With the rise of AI chatbot ChatGTP, children, parents and educators are increasingly exposed to AI technology in their daily lives, which is also found in entertainment streaming service algorithms, social media platforms and voice-activated virtual assistants. Despite some schools' reluctance to allow the use of ChatGTP in education, the use of AI systems is becoming an important, basic form of literacy for students, according to Regina Barzilay, faculty lead for AI at MIT Jameel Clinic, which ran its first AI and healthcare summer programme for high school students this summer. Regina encourages youth to explore their curiosity and receive education about AI systems. "Moving forward, it could create humongous disparities if only people who go to university and study data science and computer science understand how it works," she says.
This curiosity should be accompanied by caution, however. Parents need to discuss safe practices around the use of AI language models with their children. Information security should be considered a priority; children should be aware that sensitive information provided to these systems enters a large database, which could be susceptible to hacking or use by corporations without consent. The reliability of information provided by ChatGTP and the importance of critical thinking is another topic that parents should discuss with children. Perpetuating biases and stereotypes is another risk with AI language models, since the algorithm's learning is dependent on the quality of data collected.