5 Interesting AI (Artificial Intelligence) Facts for Kids
5 Interesting AI (Artificial Intelligence) Facts for Kids
As technology evolves, we have smartphones, as well as smart technology like Siri and Alexa. Recently, an ex-NASA engineer even created and built a robot named Skippa that can skip a rock over 60 times!
Artificial intelligence plays a huge role in Cog, a new middle-grade novel by Greg van Eekhout. The story explores the blurry line between artificial intelligence and humanity. Cog looks like a normal 12-year-old boy. But his name is short for “cognitive development,” and he was built to learn. After an accident leaves him damaged, Cog wakes up in an unknown lab, and Gina, the scientist who created and cared for him, is nowhere to be found. Surrounded by scientists who want to study him and remove his brain, Cog recruits four robot accomplices for a mission to find her. Their journey will likely involve much cognitive development in the form of mistakes, but Cog is willing to risk everything to find his way back to Gina. Cog is a charming adventure story, about an unforgettable character with whom kids will relate.
Cog provides a great opportunity to talk with your children about the strides that are being made in real-life artificial intelligence. Here are five fun facts that you can share with your children to help them better understand how it works:
1. Artificial Intelligence is when a computer program or machine has the ability to think and learn.
Computer programs like Siri or Alexa use smart technology to recognize speech and to respond. Other smart technology allows computers to learn, plan, and solve problems!
2. The real-life COG Project was started to explore how AI is affected by real-world experiences.
Much like Cog in the book, the aim of the original COG robot was to create a robot that could learn through experiences. Several different computer programs work together to run COG as it learns to imitate things like a head shake or a nod.
3. One day soon, there may be “Robot-bosses.”
During the industrial revolution, many jobs were replaced by machines. Similarly, Artificial Intelligence is being used across many professional areas, and over the next 15 years, AI may replace up to 40% of the current workforce. In fact, millions of workers may soon be reporting to “Robot-bosses”!
4. Websites use artificial intelligence to improve the user experience.
YouTube actively monitors its site for harmful content. In the first quarter of this year, 76% of the 8.3 million videos that were removed from YouTube were flagged by AI. That’s one smart website.
5. A robot named Sophia may be the smartest robot in the world.
Sophia is designed to look like a human and to respond to questions. Sophia can follow faces, maintain eye contact, and even recognize individuals.
While Sophia’s emotions are a long way off from Cog’s, the idea that a robot can have human features and characteristics can be really neat, and also a little bit scary.
More about Cog:
Five robots. One unforgettable journey. Their programming will never be the same.
Wall-E meets The Wild Robot in this middle grade instant classic about five robots on a mission to rescue their inventor from the corporation that controls them all.
Cog looks like a normal twelve-year-old boy. But his name is short for “cognitive development,” and he was built to learn.
But after an accident leaves him damaged, Cog wakes up in an unknown lab — and Gina, the scientist who created and cared for him, is nowhere to be found. Surrounded by scientists who want to study him and remove his brain, Cog recruits four robot accomplices for a mission to find her.
Cog, ADA, Proto, Trashbot, and Car’s journey will likely involve much cognitive development in the form of mistakes, but Cog is willing to risk everything to find his way back to Gina.
In this charming stand-alone adventure, Greg van Eekhout breathes life and wisdom into an unforgettable character and crafts a story sure to earn its place among beloved classics like Katherine Applegate’s The One and Only Ivan.
