An AI Primer for Parents: Part One
Your kids are probably already using it but its ok, you don't need to panic
So….AI is pretty much part of everything at this point. Kids interact with AI ALOT– maybe more than some parents realize. AI is Voice Assistants and Chatbots. You can also find it in Video Games, Educational Apps, and–- dunh dunh dunh— natural language processing tools like ChatGPT. AI is a big topic so I going to cover it in two parts
This week: 4 ways kids are interacting with AI today. I also give a list of products that use AI worth checking out.
Next week: the 1 major way older kids may be using AI that isn’t so good. Yeah the plagiarism one. Lots to talk about there. So next week.
1. AI-powered voice assistants
I talked about Voice Assistants Siri and Alexa 2 weeks ago. Kids use them to ask questions, play games, and control devices. Many adults are creeped out by VA’s. Fair enough, they are listening to everything. But if you can get past that, they can be great family companions. Just make sure you have the parental controls you want set up to support your digital parenting plan. My article here.
2. AI-powered video games
AI is used in lots of video games geared toward kids. It can make a more personalized experience and/or add some complexity or realism. There are some pretty cool AI executions in games. Here are some examples that kids seem to like:
Minecraft Dungeons: A cooperative action dungeon crawler game that features AI-powered enemies that adapt to players' playstyles.
Pokémon Unite: A multiplayer online battle arena game that features AI-powered bots that can be used to fill out teams or practice against.
Sackboy: A Big Adventure: A 3D platformer game features AI-powered enemies and puzzles that challenge players in new ways
Mario Party Superstars: A party game features a variety of mini-games that use AI to provide a challenging experience for players of all skill levels.
Super Smash Bros. Ultimate: A fighting game that features AI-powered opponents that can be used to practice against or compete with.
3. AI-powered educational apps
AI is used in many educational apps to help kids learn in a way that feels fun and keeps them engaged. Examples include:
Duolingo: A language learning app that uses AI to personalize the learning experience for each user. It also offers a variety of gamification features.
Khan Academy: An educational platform that offers a wide range of courses on a variety of subjects, including math, science, history, and more. It uses AI to provide personalized feedback and recommendations to users.
Memrise: Another language learning app. This one uses AI to create personalized learning paths and flashcards for each user. It also offers a variety of fun and engaging activities to help users learn new vocabulary and grammar.
Quizlet: A flashcards app that uses AI to create personalized learning sets and quizzes for each user. It also offers a variety of game modes to make learning fun.
4. AI-powered chatbots
Kids use AI-powered chatbots to get help with tasks, learn new things, and have conversations. Places they have likely seen an AI chatbot include:
Educational apps: AI chatbots are used in a variety of educational apps including Duolingo and Khan Academy mentioned above. Chatbots can help students learn new concepts, answer their questions, and provide feedback on their work.
Games: AI chatbots are also used in a variety of games, such as Pokémon Unite and Sackboy: A Big Adventure mentioned above. These chatbots can provide players with hints, tips, and challenges.
Social media: AI chatbots are used on social media platforms like Snapchat and Facebook. These chatbots can answer users' questions, provide customer support, and help users find information.
Customer service: To the extent your kids are shopping online, they’ll likely come across some customer service bots at some point.
Virtual assistants: AI chatbot tech and scripts are also used in virtual assistants like Siri & Alexa.
What parents need to know
AI is cool. There’s lots of innovation in the space and it makes and powers things that are helpful and fun. It can tell you knock knock jokes, address common customer service issues more quickly, make video games feel more personal and enhance many educational apps. I say, embrace it as much as you can.
And of course by “embrace it” I also mean take the time to make sure you understand it as much as you can.
And specifically by “understand it” I mean understand the risks which include misinformation, bias and as I’ll address next week, the temptation to use it for schoolwork.
My $0.02
Talk to your kids about AI. Even just knowing what it is exactly and where it exists is helpful context.
Explain the watchouts. It's still a relatively new technology. Many parents and technologists are worried that regulation hasn’t caught up and therefore there is some risk of misinformation and bias. Is that a big risk in the applications we just went through? Probably not. But it's not risk free. And of course, the temptation to use it for schoolwork–next week.
Keep an eye on it, maybe even lean into it. More and more will happen in the AI space. If you and your kid are both paying attention and interested in it, it could be an interest you find you have in common?
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