Artificial intelligence is reshaping nearly every aspect of the non-digital world, from health and transport to how we learn and work. But it’s also changing how we use technology itself.
Coding, once seen as a niche technical skill understood by only a small cohort, has become more accessible than ever before. From guided learning tools to intelligent code companions, AI is breaking down barriers and opening new opportunities for young people.
The latest Australian Youth Digital Index data shows that only 35% of young people say they have taught themselves to code, while 47% have been taught to code (at school or elsewhere). But 59% have taught themselves to use generative AI. And increasingly, AI can now support coding. Coding is becoming a superpower within everyone’s reach.
With natural language prompts, anyone can describe what they want to build, and AI can help create it. AI can suggest what to write next, highlight why something doesn’t work, and even adapt explanations to a learner’s skill level. Young people who once found coding “too difficult” can now create functioning apps, websites, or data projects with AI-supported guidance.
But while AI might lower the entry barriers, Kaye North, Community Engagement Manager of Code Club Australia, is clear: it doesn’t replace the need to learn how to think like a coder.
“The most important thing is the computational thinking skills we develop when we’re engaging with coding,” Kaye says.
Learning as they go
Kaye has spent years both teaching in classrooms and supporting thousands of volunteers to run coding clubs across Australia. She says when kids code, they’re learning to:
- Break big problems into smaller steps
- Sequence actions in the right order
- Design, test, and improve their ideas
- Debug when something doesn’t work the way they expected
- Collaborate and communicate with others
Kaye talks about the design cycle kids practice when they build a project: brainstorm, prototype, build, test, revise, test again, get feedback, and iterate.
“What we put down first is never going to be the best,” she says. “We need to have some resilience and go, ‘Oh, that didn’t work, I’ll try this.’”
Those skills – logical thinking, persistence, creativity and collaboration – underpin not just coding, but maths, science, engineering and so much more in life. And it’s clear the young coders can see the benefits:
“I like making games that help other people. Our class made some Scratch games for our buddy class to help them learn how to add. It was tricky to come up with the idea but we worked hard on it and our buddy class loved our games.” Hayden age 11
“I really loved the coding challenge. I hadn’t done much coding before but this was so much fun! I’ve made lots more games since then and I think that this is going to help me get a good job when I’m older.” Sam aged 8
How AI fits in
Kaye relates the adoption of AI to the introduction of the calculator. “We were introduced to the calculator as a way to very quickly do our sums for us without us having to think,” she says. “AI very simply is another tool that does that. We can put our information in and it will think for us.”
“But we didn’t stop teaching addition because of the calculator. We still value the skills that come with knowing how numbers work and how to estimate, because the calculator could be wrong. We need to have a knowledge base that underpins what we’re doing.”
This, too, is underscored by the AYDI insights: a significant number of young people (one in five) say they never or rarely check what AI tools give them. Without an understanding of the logic, errors will be less obvious.
So does AI help bring new learners into coding, or tempt them to skip the “hard bit” altogether?
Kaye’s answer is nuanced.
“I can definitely see it being of assistance,” Kaye says. “You can chuck in some code that you’ve already written and go, ‘I’m stuck, where’s my problem?’ It’s going to find it because it is very rule based.”
“But on the flip side, it’s too easy to say ‘That’s too hard, do it for me, and that’s something we’ve seen in schools already with kids, with assignments.”
Still, Kaye is far from anti-AI. Used wisely, she sees real potential for AI to spark interest, especially among young people who might otherwise find coding intimidating.
In that ecosystem, AI isn’t seen as the enemy of learning, or a magic shortcut. It’s another tool, powerful and still evolving, that children need to understand, question and use wisely.
“AI is fantastic, but kids still need to know what’s happening underneath,” Kaye says.
“The real value comes from understanding the thinking, not just getting the answer.”
About Code Club Australia
Code Club Australia supports around 1,400 clubs and an estimated 30–35,000 kids across the country each year through schools, libraries, neighbourhood centres and volunteer-led groups. Thanks to support from the Telstra Foundation, those clubs can offer free, research-backed resources and projects that blend coding, creativity and critical thinking.
