Druga, S. (2018). Growing up with AI. Cognimates: from coding to teaching machines

Abstract

Conversational agents and intelligent toys are present in children’s homes. This raises questions as to the impact of AI on their development. In this context, we explore how to educate the children that are growing up with AI and best prepare them for the future. Our prior studies showed that young people consider intelligent agents as friendly and trustworthy, and sometimes even defer to them when making decisions [16, 73]. This thesis explores how 107 children from 4 countries, who are 7 to 14 years old, develop a better understanding of AI concepts and change their perception of smart agents by programming and teaching them with the Cognimates platform we developed. Variations between children of different nationalities and SES backgrounds are discussed together with the influence of their collaboration and communication skills.