When the Hype Pops: What an AI Crash Can Teach Our Kids About Critical Thinking

Every generation inherits a defining technology. For today’s young people, that technology is artificial intelligence. It’s in classrooms, smartphones, libraries, search engines, music apps, editing tools, games, and even the way information finds us. It’s everywhere, almost too big to see clearly.

But what happens if the AI boom… busts?

Economists call it a “correction.” Journalists call it a “crash.” Kids call it “What is even happening?”

Tech bubbles are as old as technology itself. The dot-com boom promised a magical future where every website would mint gold. Crypto promised the end of banks. Metaverse projects promised a new reality. And AI, today’s obsession, promises intelligence on tap.

Hype cycles are powerful. They create excitement, opportunity, investment, and innovation. But when excitement outruns reality, bubbles form. And bubbles, by nature, burst.

In edufiction, I take these real-world moments and wrap them in stories young readers feel rather than simply read. Big-O overreaching. Zeno urging balance. Beam chasing the next shiny upgrade. Bindi quietly asking: “What if we’re wrong?” These characters embody the cycle we all live through, hype, doubt, correction, and clarity.

If the AI bubble were to collapse tomorrow, the world wouldn’t fall into chaos. But we would feel the tremor. Jobs would shift. Investment would freeze. Schools and families would reassess. And many young people would look around and ask: “Why didn’t we see this coming?”

That’s the teachable moment.

Because the real skill children need is not blind trust in every new technology. It’s critical thinking.

Critical thinking is the ability to:

• ask better questions,
• evaluate claims without panic or excitement,
• trace the motives behind the message,
• and recognise when a trend is useful, dangerous, or just… noise.

In Team Savv-i, hype is a trap. Big-O thrives on emotional contagion, instant belief, and rapid reaction. Zeno knows that reflection protects minds far better than firewalls. And the kids? They learn, sometimes the hard way, that thinking slowly is a superpower.

If the AI boom slows down or crashes, it becomes an opportunity for society to reset.

To ask:

• What does real progress look like?

• What tools genuinely make life better?

• How do we support young people when the world they’re told to prepare for keeps changing shape?

The answer won’t come from algorithms. It will come from equipping our young people with the one thing no hype cycle can replace: a resilient, questioning mind.

Edufiction exists for this reason.
Stories help kids rehearse reality.
Fiction gives them a safe place to explore unsafe ideas.
And critical thinking — embedded in narrative — becomes something they can actually use.

If the hype ever pops, our kids won’t fall with it.
They’ll stand, analyse, recalibrate, and adapt.

And that is a far more powerful future to prepare them for.