Anthropomorphizing AI The Impact on Students & Education

From content recommendations to smart devices in the home, young people are growing up in a world crowded with AI technologies. In partnership with the Raspberry Pi Foundation, we explored what this means for the mental models that school age students are forming around how the world works. In particular we focused on anthropomorphism and the impact that humanizing AI systems has on young people's engagement.

Key topics included:

Understanding the importance of mental models: Learn how students construct their understanding of AI systems through daily interactions with technology, and learn to identify common misconceptions that arise from anthropomorphized AI.

Impact and research: Explore the research relating to the potential impact of humanizing AI systems and what it means for young people's ability to think critically about the capabilities and limitations of AI systems.

Classroom Strategies & Tools: Master practical approaches for teaching AI concepts accurately while acknowledging students' natural tendency to anthropomorphize. Learn specific techniques for helping students develop a more nuanced understanding of AI systems.

[JenArtan]

I don't know why I thought of this... but remember when Roombas came out? There was a story in the news a few years back. A Roomba owner had received a text message that read: "Help, Mork is stuck on a cliff". It was, of course, from the Roomba device itself, whom the owners had named "Mork", and "he" was stuck on the landing of their stairs and couldn't get down. I think we've been anthropomorphizing objects for awhile now. It can become a problem when we start having more of a meaningful relationship with our appliances than with the humans around us. (To be fair, I once bumped into a photocopier and apologized to it...)