Let’s learn about ai for kids.
Have you ever heard of Alexa or Siri?
Have you ever seen a self-driving car?
Have you ever wondered how iPhone’s face recognition works?
All of these technologies have something in common: they use artificial intelligence, or “AI.”
Even if you have used AI before, you might not know exactly how it works.
Artificial intelligence, or “AI,” is the ability for a computer to think and learn.
With AI, computers can perform tasks that are typically done by people, including processing language, problem-solving, and learning.
Artificial intelligence is a tool, much like other types of new technologies.
What are Some Examples of AI for Kids?
We already shared a couple of examples of AI, like virtual assistants and self-driving cars, but there are many other ways that artificial intelligence is used in the world around us:
- Movie Recommendations: If you have ever streamed a movie on Netflix, for example, you may have noticed that you will receive recommendations for other movies based on what you have watched already. That’s because of AI!
- Chatbots: Many websites have chatbots that help answer your questions. These chatbots are not typically run by people – they are AI!
- Search Engines: Most people use search engines like Google every single day. Search engines use AI to rank websites in your search results.
What other examples of AI come to mind?
Once you discover different examples of AI, like the ones we just shared, you will start recognizing artificial intelligence in your everyday life!
Why is Learning About AI Important for Kids?
AI is all around us, and whether or not you realize it, people use artificial intelligence every single day.
Even though AI is used today, computer scientists predict artificial intelligence will be even more prominent in the future.
Because of this, many jobs will also need us to understand how AI works so we can solve big problems.
This is already true of many professions today.
Doctors use AI to diagnose patients based on medical scans, like X-rays.
Astronauts can use AI models to detect exoplanets, or planets outside our Solar System.
And these are just a couple of examples!
As a kid, you might not quite know what you want to be when you grow up yet. (I certainly wasn’t sure!)
Future president? Doctor? Lawyer? Entrepreneur? Teacher? Scientist? Actor?
Or, maybe you know for certain what your career will be.
Either way, there is a good chance that AI will be connected to your future job.
At Inspirit AI, we have instructors who use AI as artists, scientists, and even fashion designers! In our programs, our instructors share their own experiences and research in AI, especially with our high school students.
In addition to using artificial intelligence in a future job, kids can also talk about how people can use and program AI to make a difference.
How might we use technology as a tool to fix problems in our world?
By learning about AI at an early age, you can better understand how to apply this tool to improve the world.
It is clear that learning about artificial intelligence is important for kids. But how exactly can kids learn about AI?
How Can Kids Learn About AI?
If you are looking to learn more about AI as a kid, there are several different ways you can get started!
We are sharing three of our top tips to learn AI as a kid.
Tip #1: Experiment with Google
Google has put together tons of activities and resources to help kids learn about AI. Check out some of our favorites:
- Teachable Machine: Teachable Machine is a fast and easy way to create machine learning models (without any coding involved). Train a computer to recognize your images, sounds, and poses.
- Quick Draw: Can a computer recognize doodles? Check out Quick Draw to help with machine learning research.
Try out these tools from Google to see AI in action. You will have fun watching machine learning happen, and you will also contribute to research that is happening in the field of AI.
Machine Learning is a type of AI that allows machines to learn from data. Machine Learning is the term we use to describe how a computer develops intelligence.
Tip #2: Learn How to Code
Another essential step to learning more about AI as a kid is to code!
Maybe you have taken a computer science class at school before. Or, maybe you participated in an Hour of Code.
Learning how to code is an important skill for kids – and adults! – to have.
And knowing how to code is especially important if you are looking to learn more about AI.
We recommend starting out with block-based programming.
Scratch is one of our favorites at Inspirit AI. Scratch is user-friendly, so it is a great programming tool for beginners. But it is still fun for more advanced coders too!
We use this tool in our AI Adventurers and AI Creators classes to help our students learn computer science and programming.
Tip #3: Participate in an Artificial Intelligence Camp
The best way to really understand how AI works is to learn from experts!
Did you know there is an afterschool program and summer camp all about AI?
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Thank You!