Generating the Future with AI

By Jim Washburn, UCI Magazine

Cultural anthropologist Mizuko “Mimi” Ito credits her chosen field to her youth spent toggling between the cultures of her native Japan and the United States, where she completed her education at Harvard and Stanford universities. (She earned Ph.D.s in anthropology and education at the latter.)

Ito says her “weird little niche” in anthropology has less to do with geographical differences than generational ones. “Cultural anthropologists traditionally go to foreign cultures to try to understand them and explain them to folks who don’t share that culture,” she says. “My core research is instead based on studying youth culture and how they engage with the internet. I try to explain to parents, educators and policymakers what kids are actually doing in the online world. There’s a tendency to assume they’re addicted to their screens and that social media is driving mental health problems. That’s worthy of concern, but there’s so much more to learn about how youths are interacting with the digital world with innovation, initiative and optimism.”

At UC Irvine, Ito is professor-in-residence of informatics and John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Chair in Digital Media and Learning, as well as director of the Connected Learning Lab in the Donald Bren School of Information and Computer Sciences.

“In the Connected Learning Lab, we have a diverse group of faculty spanning the social, behavioral, cultural and technological sides of learning, with projects and research initiatives centered around an equity-oriented and learner-centered approach to engaging with and developing learning technologies,” she says. “We address questions about what it means for young people to grow up and learn in an increasingly digital age.”

“And AI,” she tells UC Irvine Magazine contributor Jim Washburn, “is definitely one thing we’re focused on now.”

Read the full interview in UCI Magazine.