Who leads – you or the feed?
Offerings, learning modules and commitments
for children and young people.
An interactive anime lesson on self-leadership, social media and artificial intelligence.
© 2026 SOTRAI GmbH · Dr. Jacqueline Kucera · original characters in anime style
“Are you following the feed — or yourself?”
You pick Lina or Noah. Noah wants to be the main character, chasing clout and the proof that he is the best. Lina does her own thing and lives for the plot, not for the likes.
Both are in you. The lesson plays out both stances: you decide at every step, type in one word anonymously, and watch on screen how your whole class thinks. No lecture, no right answer – you simply notice which stance rings true.
In between, a short look inside the brain: why your reward system fires on likes, and what the part behind your forehead has to do with your still being able to decide for yourself.
The thread: the human leads – not the machine, not the feed.
Learning objective: students recognise the pull of social media and AI, distinguish it from their own compass, and practise deliberate self-leadership.
How it runs: app-guided with timers, five parts, an anonymous live word cloud from the class, and a short neuroscience input on reward and self-regulation. Not a lecture, but an experiment. The lesson also works entirely without live tools.
Curricular anchoring: Lehrplan 21, Media & Informatics. Aligned with the UNESCO AI Competency Framework for Students, the UNICEF Policy Guidance on AI for Children and OECD / EU AILit. Grounded in research on AI governance, leadership and trust (IDHEAP, University of Lausanne).
For teachers the lesson comes with a guide containing the sequence, narrative material and discussion questions.
Developed by SOTRAI. © 2026 SOTRAI GmbH, Dr. Jacqueline Kucera. All rights reserved.
One module in development, one in use for years.
In development
You meet AI long before anyone mentions it at school. That is exactly where the module starts. We ask: what is it that answers back? How does it know things – and how does it not? And who decides in the end: you, or the system?
It covers everything you actually meet in the digital world: fake news and images that look real and are not. The pressure of social media, the comparison, the likes. Advertising that sounds like advice. And content made by a machine, without you being able to tell.
I am developing the module as part of a new school offering.
The aim is the capacity to judge, and the experience that you can decide for yourself.
Since 2017 · Upper secondary level
Demography sounds abstract, yet it bears directly on your future. We ask: how are we developing as a society? What does that mean for the world of work you are entering? What do births, life expectancy and migration change? And who will pay your pension when ever fewer young people support ever more older ones?
It includes working with the web simulation, which is based on the population scenario model of the Swiss Federal Statistical Office: comparing scenarios and seeing how strongly a result depends on the figures you enter at the start.
The module “Demografischer Wandel”, which I co-developed, is offered by Iconomix (the educational programme of the Swiss National Bank).
The aim is the ability to read a model and recognise the assumptions behind it.
Board member since 2026
Girls Can Code (Meilen) introduces girls and young women to technology – hands-on, together and with no prior knowledge required.
In July 2026 I served as a mentor at the AI for Good Summit in Geneva: the ITU ran a workshop for girls there, and we from Girls Can Code accompanied the participants as mentors in the closing session.
AI for Good is the leading United Nations platform on artificial intelligence – run by the ITU with more than 40 UN agencies, held annually in Geneva.
Community member
Future Lab Zürich strengthens future skills and STEM competencies across the Canton of Zurich – through learning and discovery spaces, a network spanning education, business, research and society, and a platform that makes existing offerings visible. The initiative was launched in 2024 by the economic development office of the Canton of Zurich and is supported by the cantonal departments of economic affairs and education in a three-year pilot phase.
My contribution: offerings for young people on AI and self-leadership – and a network at the intersection of education, science, technology, business and public administration, which I bring in as a multiplier.
The World Economic Forum’s Youth Pulse 2026 surveyed around 4,600 young people in more than 100 countries. Two of their five demands land exactly where I research and work: the swift adoption of AI with guardrails – and transparency as the foundation of trust. This is the generation that will live longest with the consequences of today’s decisions. Read the WEF report
Contribution to the UN Sustainable Development Goals. Each goal stands for a concrete activity described on this page.
“Are You in the Lead?” and the AI and social media module build the capacity to judge AI – not the ability to operate it.
The lesson works on self-leadership, social comparison and dignity – not on tool handling.
Girls Can Code and the ITU workshop at the AI for Good Summit bring girls to technology early – and to the role of shaping it.
Anyone unable to judge AI-generated information has formal access – but not real access.
The lesson “Are You in the Lead?” for classes aged 14 and above, including the teacher’s guide.
Talks and workshops on AI, self-leadership and responsibility – for students, for teachers or for parents.
Contribution to learning modules and educational offerings on AI, from concept to classroom testing.
Networking. As a multiplier I bring in my network at the intersection of education, science, technology, business and public administration.
How Your Human Brain Beats AI · 2025
My book on leadership and human judgement in the age of AI. It asks what the human brain can do that machines cannot – and what follows from that for leadership. Its ideas feed directly into my work with young people.
My other books on leadership are listed on About me.
