(8-bit game music) - [Chris] Once upon a time it was a familiar refrain.

You're wasting your time playing video games.

Parents, teachers and adults everywhere bemoan the hours kids spent hunched over screens, battling monsters, or racing through virtual worlds.

Little did they know those same screens would redefine how we learn, create and work.

- The youngest age, you know, they're playful, they want to have fun.

So programs inculcate that in the curriculum.

- [Chris] Founded in 2014, Thinking Feat is an online afterschool program where kids ages six to 18 immerse themselves in pixelated worlds of play.

Through gaming, they unravel the mysteries of artificial intelligence and coding, transforming what feels like an adventure into real learning.

They don't just play, they're guided step by step in creating their own games.

- At the very early stages, like let's say first grade, we teach what we call block coding.

So essentially think of Lego pieces that you bring together to make things happen.

- Once I kind of got the hang of block coding, I can make something and that's always been the cool part of coding for me.

- It's fun because you can do whatever you want and you can make whatever you want.

- [Chris] To achieve these extraordinary results where young minds aren't just grasping concepts but building things that would often leave adults scratching their heads, they had to rethink the traditional learning model.

- We're not so much about teaching based on repetition, that you do the same thing for 50 times and then you get it.

It's like dance, right?

So when a student, when somebody learns dance, the usual approach is they practice and practice and practice until they perfect that.

Our approach is to teach them more of a choreography.

So they become choreographers.

They think ahead that, okay, how is this step gonna follow that step?

What are the problems that might come in?

So we develop them more as thinkers.

- [Chris] With classes capped at just 10 students, Thinking Feet fosters a close-knit environment where collaboration thrives.

Here kids are encouraged to help one another and push themselves to go as fast and as far as their curiosity takes them, the results speak for themselves.

- I went into a unity and created just a little game where you had to swat a bunch of mosquitoes away from you.

It sounds really weird, but it was full 3D.

It was actually really cool.

- I created a model that can identify sea animals.

- Fast forward that to high school students and they're writing code to predict house prices based on neighborhood, based on macro trends, based on house characteristics.

- [Narrator] For these young learners, mastering, coding and creating apps is just the start, the future's wide open with opportunities like the associate's degree in artificial intelligence now offered at Central Piedmont Community College, just the second community college in North Carolina to offer the degree.

It's a chance for anyone eager to build the skills that will shape tomorrow's innovations.

- IT is in almost everything you're gonna do, right?

So whether it's the smartphone that you carry around in your pocket, whether it's your desktop or laptop, IT is more and more a tool that most of us use in our day-to-day lives.

- [Narrator] The curriculum spans everything from machine learning and chatbots to generative AI and system design.

It covers essential skills in AI programming and its applications across industries.

This cutting-edge focus is fueling another Central Piedmont Community College program as well.

- There's a vast demand right now for cybersecurity analysts and that's because of artificial intelligence, right?

Because AI makes a threat that much more expedited as it propagates through a network.

- [Chris] Companies are more than eager to hire those with a strong foundation in AI coding and cybersecurity knowing full well these skills are crucial in today's fast-evolving digital world.

Some of 'em get jobs before even finishing the curriculum.

- We're actually seeing a lot of our students getting hired out of the classroom depending on what skill sets they have and then coming back here and finishing based on what their entry point is.

- Some of our students have done internships with software companies when they were in 11th grade.

She did the internship and they asked her, "Hey, could you continue working for us after your school opens?"

- [Chris] All these AI programs put students ahead of the curve.

There's something even bigger on the horizon.

Just don't tell the machines about Skynet.

- I'm a friend of Sarah Connor - (laughing) Skynet.

Yeah, so (laughing) that's probably gonna depend on, and I'm not saying Skynet's gonna happen, but there's another emerging technology that I've got my eye on right now as buzzy as artificial intelligence is.

I'm also starting to look at quantum computing.

- Really this all just comes down to speed.

Think of this gallon jug of water here as today's fastest computer and the liquid inside has the problem or the information that we're trying to get out of it.

(water splashing) It gets through it pretty fast.

Now, in comparison, a quantum computer is more like this five-gallon bucket.

Same amount of information, way less time.

- There is a quantum computer now that is starting to solve equations that a supercomputer, a classical, digital supercomputer can...

It would take it 47 years to solve.

A quantum computer has done it within a matter of minutes.

So that's the next revolution of technology.

- [Chris] That's still a few years away, but one thing's for certain: Change is the only constant in life.

In the meantime, these kids are honing the skills that will give them a clear edge.

- The world is driven by code now and just knowing that I can code and it affects every aspect of a career that I would have, knowing that I can code is a massive advantage.

- [Chris] Whether they pursue tech or any other field, these skills will be invaluable.

The future is theirs and as the Terminator might say... - I'll be back.

- But they'll already be running the show.

For "Carolina Impact," I'm Chris Clark.