Our kids are using AI technology every day. It’s time to learn about it.
Introducing children’s book series on BIG IDEAS in Artificial Intelligence
By: Roozbeh Aliabadi
Many grown-ups view self-driving cars, Siri, Alexa voice assistance, and others considered cool artificial intelligence (AI) technologies as revolutionary, radical, and at times even annoying. Our kids don’t share our views. To them, AI makes perfect sense. Look at how kids ask their Alexa device questions that we, as adults, would not. In the next decade or so for most kids, AI will be their co-workers, drivers, insurance agents, customer service representatives, bank tellers, receptionists, radiologists, in short, a natural part of their lives.
As grown-ups, we have an important responsibility to prepare our children so they can use AI effectively, understand the inherent limitations, and build a better future using the technology.
I believe that children worldwide must have the right to be AI-educated so they can thrive intellectually and emotionally alongside AI. Investing in every child can transform them from a passive spectator of technology, disruption to active participants of positive change in their local communities, and the world at large.
AI will soon play a role in decisions that are much more important than the movies we watch on Netflix, the music we play on Spotify, or the news stories Facebook recommends to us. We owe it to our children not only to help them understand and utilize the powerful means of AI but also to thoughtfully weigh its moral and social implications early on.
My message to kids around the world; I hope you enjoy reading How AI Sees the World, which is about Perception, the first of five BIG IDEAS that define Artificial Intelligence. AI is becoming a regular part of our lives. Engineers and scientists, business people, doctors, even artists, and musicians are finding exciting new ways to use AI in their work. As you learn more about AI, let’s consider how you might be working with AI in the future. It is a fascinating time to be studying AI.
We can do this together.
