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from the and-don't-believe-promises-of-cake dept.
The Wall Street Journal reports:
As a new generation grows up surrounded by artificial intelligence, researchers find education as early as preschool can help avoid confusion about robots' role
If you want your preschooler to grow up with a healthy attitude toward artificial intelligence, here's a tip: Don't call that cute talking robot 'he' or 'she.'
Call the robot 'it.'
Today's small children, aka Generation Alpha, are the first to grow up with robots as peers. Those winsome talking devices spawned by a booming education-tech industry can speed children's learning, but they also can be confusing to them, research shows. Many children think robots are smarter than humans or imbue them with magical powers.
The long-term consequences of growing up surrounded by AI-driven devices won't be clear for a while. But an expanding body of research is lending new impetus to efforts to expand technology education beyond learning to code, to understanding how AI works. Children need help drawing boundaries between themselves and the technology, and gaining confidence in their own ability to control and master it, researchers say."
[...] How to Raise an AI-Savvy Child
* Use the pronoun "it" when referring to a robot.
* Display a positive attitude toward the beneficial effects of AI.
* Encourage your child to explore how robots are built.
* Explain that humans are the source of AI-driven devices' intelligence.
* Guard against AI-propelled toys that presume too much, such as claiming to be your child's best friend.
* Invite children to consider the ethics of AI design, such as how a bot should behave after winning a game.
* Encourage skepticism about information received from smart toys and devices.
(Score: 2) by JoeMerchant on Thursday August 29 2019, @04:06PM (6 children)
Depending on your objective measure of "smarter" Google Home can come in quite a bit ahead of most people I know.
Of course, if you are using "I know intelligence when I see it" subjective measures, that result comes out however the grader wants it to.
As for magical powers, who else in your house can control all the lights at once?
🌻🌻 [google.com]
(Score: 2, Insightful) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday August 29 2019, @04:22PM (5 children)
I can, with the master fuse switch in my basement
(Score: 2) by Pino P on Thursday August 29 2019, @04:29PM (4 children)
Technically correct. But let's try again with a more selective question that I feel better captures the spirit of what JoeMerchant probably meant:
Who can control all lamps in the house without affecting devices whose primary use is not as a lamp?
(Score: 3, Informative) by acid andy on Thursday August 29 2019, @04:43PM
I could if I put all lamps in the house on a single fuse.
If a cat has kittens, does a rat have rittens, a bat bittens and a mat mittens?
(Score: 2) by Freeman on Thursday August 29 2019, @05:01PM (2 children)
I do, since Google Home is a dumb computer and only does what I tell it to do. I'm also not greatly enamored with allowing Google Home into my home. So, much more likely to go with the RaspberryPi + Local solution. You know, the kind of solution, that doesn't send my every word to Google.
Joshua 1:9 "Be strong and of a good courage; be not afraid, neither be thou dismayed: for the Lord thy God is with thee"
(Score: 3, Insightful) by acid andy on Thursday August 29 2019, @05:18PM (1 child)
I'm sometimes tempted to build home automation tech but really my body is probably better off with the exercise of getting up to switch things on and off.
If a cat has kittens, does a rat have rittens, a bat bittens and a mat mittens?
(Score: 2) by JoeMerchant on Thursday August 29 2019, @05:49PM
The relays have come a long way since X-10 days, those tended to die within 1-2 years after installation.
The new WiFi ones are nice and compact, and run about $10 each, if you don't mind your home automation commands cycling through a Chinese cloud server.
As for rolling your own, yeah, sure, if you need a hobby - all very do-able. Just do-able for so much less money and effort if you simply succumb to the consumerist siren call...
🌻🌻 [google.com]