Tag Archives: artificial intelligence

As a researcher focusing on AI and child development (and also as a parent of two), I have seen many instances of kids talking to conversational AI agents like Siri, Alexa, or ChatGPT. It seems that kids turn to AI agents to satisfy their curiosity, asking things like what six plus six equals, how far away black holes are, or how to make an invisible potion. And sometimes kids engage in what feels like social chitchat: they share their favorite…

We talk about kids and AI, and we talk about creativity and AI. But while we know that creativity impacts children’s development, identity formation, and learning, children’s creative experiences with AI are often left out of the conversation. Conversations around AI and kids tend to focus on AI literacy – teaching them the skills they need to understand and use AI in their everyday lives. Certainly these skills are important as AI continues to be integrated into our everyday lives,…

Although we are still in the midst of discovering the implications and opportunities that various technologies bring to our children’s (and our own) lives, we’re seeing a new technological innovation getting a lot of attention: artificial intelligence (or AI) – and specifically Generative AI. AI is something you’re likely already using in your daily life. If you’ve ever unlocked your phone with facial recognition, spoken to a voice assistant like Siri or Alexa, or relied on a navigation app like…

As a speech-language pathologist, I am fascinated with how humans and voice interfaces (such as Amazon’s Echo, “Alexa”) communicate with each other. I was fortunate to be a member of a research team based at the University of Washington, in which we recruited 10 diverse families to incorporate an Amazon Echo Dot into their homes for the first time. As researchers, we wanted to learn and understand how families incorporate the fast-growing technology of dedicated, home-based, voice interfaces in their homes.…

Growing up in the 1980’s, I played with a lot of toys and technology. My first experience with a computer was an Apple IIe at school, where I played Where in the World is Carmen Sandiego. At home, my technology-enabled toys consisted of a Speak and Spell that would repeat what I would type, and  video game consoles like the Atari 2600 and Nintendo. When I look back, I don’t recall ever thinking these were creepy experiences. The Speak and…

If we don’t plan our AI future, we risk handing our kids a world where machines make decisions for them and bias influences everything from routine policing to insurance decisions.  To prepare this generation for what is coming, we must equip them with the ability to understand, question and manage AI in the world around them. It’s a child’s right (and a parent’s) to know whether daily interactions are with a human, an AI, or both.  As a society we…

A recent study commissioned by Iridescent revealed 78% of underrepresented families want to learn more about technologies like AI despite their mixed emotions about how these technologies work and their potential impact on jobs. The online study, conducted by VeraQuest, found that while 80% of low-income families believe technologies like AI will take away too many jobs, the interest to learn about new,  “mysterious” technologies is high. However, access to these educational opportunities remain a significant barrier; more than 75% of…