Technology runs through many large and small aspects of our lives. We use computers and smartphones to gather information, do our banking, communicate with each other, and countless other things. Computers are extremely powerful machines, and it is important people use them in healthy and safe ways.
Technology is amoral in that it’s not inherently good or bad. On the one hand, there are malicious hackers who use computer coding to extort people and corporations or commit even worse crimes. On the other hand, there are ethical hackers who use their coding skills to help protect organizations and even countries.
Promoting safe, wholesome uses for computers is essential. When people learn how to use powerful technology, they shouldn’t learn it in a vacuum.
Artificial Intelligence (AI) burst onto the public consciousness years ago with OpenAI’s product ChatGPT. The topic is everywhere, and while companies are rushing to incorporate this technology into their services and products before competitors, there are also skeptics.
You may be surprised to learn that AI is decades old! RP4K has taught aspects of AI for years already, but we’ve made new AI online coding classes that reflect the contemporary moment. Let’s take a minute now to examine why it’s important to teach kids about the ethics of AI and demonstrate some of the technology’s extremely positive uses.
AI can have countless applications, and many of them are quite positive and extremely mundane. For example, people can use ChatGPT to help solve coding dilemmas that save them time. Like with any tool, it needs to be used properly to be effective.
It would be wrong to assume that plugging in a general prompt into ChatGPT, such as “find the answer to __,” will yield strong, correct results. But if you hone in on the specifics, coders can get practical help.
Such an application for AI demonstrates two important lessons for kids. The first is that AI should only be used for positive, healthy goals. Second, that even though tools like ChatGPT may seem dazzling, ultimately, it’s a product of coding. A user must think like a coder to maximize their results.
Artificial intelligence is already prevalent today in many forms, like virtual assistants such as Alexa and Siri. There’s a difference between using AI and over relying on it.
There’s nothing wrong with asking Siri what today’s weather is at your location. However, the technology has its limitations. Kids shouldn’t expect ChatGPT to answer their homework questions. Not only is that a form of plagiarism or cheating that robs them of the chance to develop critical thinking skills, but the answers you get are not necessarily reliable. They might be extremely incorrect!
Ultimately, being a coding application, AI programs reflect their inputs, and programs that are trained on incorrect, racist, sexist information will churn out these types of answers. Kids shouldn’t treat AI programs like a mystical, all-knowing oracle! Once they’re aware of what AI really is, they’ll become naturally skeptical of the answers they produce.
AI can be an exciting, engaging, and accessible topic, and crafting future innovators today means learning how to use and understand the most powerful technology. There’s a danger in not teaching kids about AI and AI ethics. Practically speaking, kids who don’t learn AI will get left behind, but it can be dangerous to society to teach kids AI without teaching them AI ethics.
For students to understand that the datasets plugged into AI systems can have biases, they need to develop some degree of self-awareness. Reflecting on their own biases means considering how they come to know what they know.
Otherwise, they could input these unexplored biases into an AI system, which spits them back out in an endlessly recurring loop. RP4K isn’t here to tell kids what to think or enforce any moral framework, but some degree of reflection is required, or there’s a risk of endlessly reinforcing their own biases and those of AI’s datasets.
Emphasizing social responsibility and civic engagement can help frame such lessons. On a basic level, technology should be used to improve society and make life better. How exactly this should be accomplished is not clear, but it’s an engaging topic that can help make ethical AI lessons useful and positive.
Any discussion about values and beliefs should leave room for varying viewpoints and foster creativity and crucial communication skills. Just like using AI prompts successfully requires framing questions clearly and effectively, students will learn to actively listen and build on previous interactions while learning about AI ethics.
The school subjects that kids learn must be appropriate to their level of skill, experience, and age. Real Programming 4 Kids offers a free trial lesson so parents and students can experience a class and feel confident that they’re at the difficulty level.
Artificial Intelligence is not the first thing students encounter when they learn to code. RP4K offers intermediate and advanced AI courses teaching concepts such as machine learning, neural networks, and an AI platform to help kids play the popular board game Settlers of Catan.
The idea is to match their computer skills with their life experience. Connecting advanced AI technology with a board game is a way to ensure digital life is rooted in something tactile they can relate to. Down the road, RP4K students could be building a career in IT, but for now, they’re kids and teenagers learning that abstract technology can have concrete applications in an age-appropriate context.
AI is a fundamental technology that seems poised to play an ever-larger role in society. Peeking behind the curtains to understand how it really works on a coding level is essential, but so is grasping the nature of AI and how it can reflect and perpetuate what goes into it. RP4K is proud to teach kids how to use this crucial technology and looks forward to stirring discussions about the underlying ethics.
