This Father’s Day I am reminded of my late father, Digoy Fernandez. He was the first nerd I ever knew. It was because of him that I was able to hold the joystick of an Atari 2600 in the 1980’s. Years later, he brought home a Nintendo Entertainment System from the States and I would take turns playing Castlevania, Metroid, and Mega Man with my younger brother. Things escalated and I learned how to do basic code with a 286 XT PC at his office, until he brought home an IBM ThinkPad from the early 90’s.
This Father’s Day I am reminded of how dad was an enabler of everything tech. In college he bought me my first Palm Pilot – an m515 with a Bluetooth SD card attachment. I remember it coming with a portable keyboard so I could use it as a makeshift laptop in school.
My father passed away during the pandemic. He never got to see the rise of AI in the form of ChatGPT and Google Gemini but I’m sure he would have been floored.
This Father’s Day, I asked members of my team to reflect on their own fathers in the age of AI. Lia shares a story about how, even in a world obsessed with machine learning and automation, it’s the human conversations—like late-night chats with her dad—that remain irreplaceable. Dawn, on the other hand, writes about helping her father set up password managers and 2FA, ensuring his digital life is just as secure as the one he built for his family.
Through all these stories, one thing is clear: while dads may not always have the latest gear or know the right tech lingo, they often lay the foundation for how we engage with the world—whether it’s through a computer screen, a console, or a quiet reminder to back up our files. So here’s to the dads who built our first WiFi networks, who stayed up figuring out why the printer won’t print, and who always made sure the batteries were charged. Here’s to the father figures who passed on more than just devices—but curiosity, resilience, and the permission to tinker.
