Strong foundations are important for your learning and for your children. Starting with the absolute basics helps you think in a way that considers the needs of children who lack your experience and breadth of knowledge.

As adults, we can understand something and yet find it difficult to find the right explanation when a child asks a question that goes right back to basics.

Let's start with the absolute basics with the most important words in this course: Artificial Intelligence.

Artificial: something that is made by people, not by nature.

Intelligence: the ability to learn new things, solve problems, and make good choices.

Artificial Intelligence: when computers and machines are designed to think and learn like people.

It is the simple questions that can often throw us off balance (especially when children ask them), and with a clear idea of the basics of AI, we can now look at it in more detail.

Introduction: What Exactly is AI?

Artificial Intelligence, or AI, refers to the ability of machines or software to perform tasks that, until now, required human intelligence.

These tasks can include recognizing speech, identifying objects, solving problems, and making decisions. In simple terms, AI enables computers and apps to mimic certain human-like abilities.

The use of the word mimic is important.

As human-like as a conversation with ChatGPT, Gemini, or one of the other chatbots appear, there is no true understanding. We'll go into this in more detail later in the course, but they all use probability and pattern-matching to predict the best choice of words. They have no concept of what those words mean. Likewise, image recognition might be able to identify a breed of dog from a photograph but has no concept of what a dog is.

AI in Everyday Life

Even if you’re new to AI, you likely encounter it every day. Here are a few examples you might recognize:

• Virtual Assistants like Siri or Alexa that answer questions and set reminders.
• Recommendation Systems on apps like Netflix or YouTube that suggest what to watch next.
• Navigation Apps like Google Maps that predict traffic and plan your route.
• Image Recognition tools that tag people in photos on social media.

These are all powered by AI, working behind the scenes to make these tools more useful and efficient.

Types of AI

Understanding AI is easier when you break it down into different types. There are many ways we can do this and some are particularly helpful in explaining different aspects to AI kids.

Here we'll look at one of the most fundamental ways of sorting AI.

There are two main categories:

1. Narrow AI (Weak AI):
   This type of AI is designed to handle a specific task. Examples include voice assistants like Siri or Alexa, recommendation algorithms, as used by YouTube or Netflix, and AI used in educational apps. Narrow AI is what we commonly use today.
2. General AI (Strong AI):
   This type of AI could understand and learn any intellectual task that a human can. While this concept exists in science fiction, General AI does not yet exist in real life.

For this course, we focus on Narrow AI, which is the kind you’ll encounter in educational tools and everyday applications.

How AI Works: A Simplified Explanation

AI systems are hugely data-hungry. For them to mimic human intelligence so effectively they need to learn from vast amounts of source material. The technology underpinning chatbots absorbed many times more text than a person could read in a lifetime, for example.

This training takes months, hugely powerful computer chips, and huge amounts of electricity.

1. Data Collection: AI is trained with lots of examples (data). For example, an AI learning to recognize animals might be shown thousands of pictures of cats and dogs.
2. Pattern Recognition: The AI learns patterns and features in the data, such as shapes, colors, or sounds.
3. Making Predictions: Once trained, the AI can make predictions or decisions based on new data. For instance, it can identify whether a new picture contains a cat or a dog.

In educational apps, this might look like AI learning to adapt math questions based on a child’s past answers, adjusting the difficulty to their skill level.

While some kids will be fascinated by the mechanics of AI, many are only interested in the applications. However, knowing how AI works is key to understanding its limitations and risks.

To keep kids interested, you'll find it helpful to find links to topics relevant to their interests.

Many kids love computer games and the latest consoles. nVidia, currently one of the world's biggest companies started as a designer of GPUs (Graphic Processing Units), but now its chips power the most powerful AI.

Graphics chips are extremely useful for training AI because they are designed to handle many tasks at the same time — a capability called parallel processing. GPUs are like a team of workers doing lots of small jobs simultaneously.

With graphics, the chips work on thousands of pixels at a time. When training an AI model, the computer has to perform millions of small calculations quickly and repeatedly. Parallel processing makes this quicker.

The drive towards better computer games has led to the emergence of AI we have today!

Why AI Matters in Education

AI is increasingly being used to personalize learning experiences for children. For example:

• Adaptive Learning Platforms can adjust lessons to match a student’s pace and understanding.
• AI-Powered Tutoring Systems provide instant feedback and additional practice on challenging topics.
• Language Apps use AI to help children practice pronunciation and grammar.

Understanding these basic concepts helps you make better choices about which educational apps and tools to use for your children or students.

Why Education Matters in AI

Children won't stay restricted to educational and child-targeted tools. They will look at general-purpose AI tools and find ways to use them.

These tools typically have a minimum user age of 13 or higher, but we see from social media that this does not realistically prevent access. This also leads to a cliff-edge of danger.

When following the rules, a twelve-year-and-364-days-old child will never have used AI. The next day they have permission to use the most powerful AI available to most consumers.

Informing kids how to use AI safely and responsibly must become a key facet of education.

Misinformation and Trust Issues

• Risk: AI can generate or recommend incorrect or biased information.
• Impact: Children may believe everything AI says, leading to false beliefs or misunderstandings.
• Example: Trusting AI-generated content that sounds confident but is factually wrong.

2. Privacy Violations

• Risk: AI tools often collect data, which can compromise children's privacy.
• Impact: Personal information might be misused or leaked.
• Example: Sharing personal details with AI chatbots that store data insecurely.

3. Bias and Stereotyping

• Risk: AI systems can reflect harmful biases present in their training data.
• Impact: Children may internalize or accept stereotypes and unfair representations.
• Example: AI recommending gender-biased career paths or activities.

4. Over-Reliance on AI

• Risk: Children may depend too much on AI for answers and decisions.
• Impact: This can hinder critical thinking and problem-solving skills.
• Example: Using AI to complete homework instead of learning the material which can harm learning and result in penalties from schools and colleges.

5. Exposure to Harmful Content

• Risk: AI tools may generate or fail to filter out harmful content.
• Impact: Children may encounter inappropriate or dangerous material.
• Example: AI chatbots creating or sharing violent or adult content.

6. Manipulation and Scams

• Risk: AI tools can be misused to create scams or deceptive content.
• Impact: Children might be tricked into sharing information or making unsafe choices.
• Example: AI-generated phishing messages that appear trustworthy.

7. Emotional Harm

• Risk: AI systems are not emotionally intelligent.
• Impact: They might provide responses that are dismissive, insensitive, or inappropriate.
• Example: A chatbot might advise someone who says they want to be alone how to run away, while a person will recognise they need support.

8. Lack of Digital Literacy

• Risk: Without AI education, children might not understand how AI works or its limitations.
• Impact: This lack of understanding leaves them vulnerable to misinformation or manipulation.
• Example: Believing AI-generated deepfakes are real.

Key Takeaways

1. AI is Everywhere: From virtual assistants to educational apps, AI is already part of daily life.
2. Focus on Narrow AI: The AI you’ll encounter in education is designed for specific tasks.
3. AI Learns Through Data: AI improves by recognizing patterns in large amounts of data.
4. AI in Education: When used thoughtfully, AI can make learning more engaging and personalized.
5. Education in AI: Safe and responsible use of AI depends on learning its potential and limitations.

We'll go into more detail on AI and education in the next lesson.