Dr. Casey Fiesler
Hi all! I don't know if I have any teacher friends on here (though if not maybe you know teachers!) but I'm trying to collect questions about AI (especially ethical/social implications) from kids and teenagers that I can answer. I have a feeling they will have very good questions that everyone can learn from. :) So help me out and share this with someone who might be talking to kids about this stuff? #ai #teachers https://forms.gle/61g8iSYswEZtZZGe9
Kids' questions about AI?

There's a lot of new and weird things happening with artificial intelligence! I (Dr. Casey Fiesler) want to try to explain things in ways that kids and teenagers understand, and would love to know what their questions are. This form is intended for teachers, parents, or other folks who might be talking to young people about AI, to share the questions that they have - especially about the ethical or social implications of AI or related technology! My plan is to answer these questions on social media so that everyone can learn from them - you can find all of my accounts linked at https://casey.prof/ but the primary ones are TikTok and Instagram @professorcasey. If you have any questions you are also welcome to email me at casey.fiesler@colorado.edu.

Google Docs
Aug 29, 2023 at 7:41pmWeb
Show threadDr. Casey FieslerAug 29, 2023
And to clarify this is not a research project. This is just me wanting to make educational content. :)
Show threadAdam Sweet Aug 29, 2023
@cfiesler unironically, I teach people how to use AI in their businesses! mostly musicians, bands, orchestras, and the like
Show threadDr. Casey FieslerAug 30, 2023
Show threadMolly AnglinAug 30, 2023

@cfiesler Fun! I'll ask my 9 year old kiddo tonight. He is *very* taken with the idea of the AI "entity" from the latest Mission Impossible movie and has been writing stories about it ever since.

We haven't really talked much about today's generative AI technologies... I figure there is absolutely no rush on that particular subject. He has *such* a vivid imagination, I figure no reason to dampen/constrain it with stuff like that.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HF8BcUBUBb4&t=69s

Taking On AI | Mission: Impossible – Dead Reckoning Part One - Tom Cruise

YouTube
Show threadCryptikSep 3, 2023
@cfiesler Hi, Dr. Fiedler, my 18-year old daughter asks: “We have laws in favor of animal well-being, and laws that make it illegal to abuse animals, who are les intelligent than humans. At what point, in our pursuit of AGI, does it become unethical to exploit, coerce, or force AI? Ie: at what point as moral beings, do we need to treat AGI as sapients, with the same rights and privileges as ourselves?”
Context: she’s entering University this fall in CompSci. This was a recent dinner table conversation. We were observing that current LLMs fall BELOW the line where we need to ethically treat them as if they are sapients, as they have no “interior *I* today, and cannot be made to suffer.
Thinking ahead, however, we were talking about being ready to have a framework to handle human-equivalent AGI, and the morality we should expect from ourselves when we reach that level of AGI.
Show threadDr. Casey FieslerSep 3, 2023
@Cryptik She might be very interested in this book by Kate Darling! https://us.macmillan.com/books/9781250296115/thenewbreed
The New Breed

For readers of The Second Machine Age or The Soul of an Octopus, a bold, exciting exploration of how building diverse kinds of relationships with robots—in...

Macmillan Publishers
Show threadCryptikSep 5, 2023
@cfiesler this *does look good! I’ll bring it to her attention (and likely read it with her) later in the fall. Thanks!
Show threadMike OlsonAug 29, 2023

@cfiesler @emilymbender

Paging @aglimme

Show threadaglimmeAug 29, 2023
@mikeolson @cfiesler @emilymbender Can share!
Show threadAndromeda YeltonAug 29, 2023
@cfiesler my daughter’s high school is actually building a course on AI with a focus on ethics for their winter term so um do you want to talk to them
Show threadDr. Casey FieslerAug 29, 2023
@thatandromeda Actually sure! Feel free to connect me to someone. :)
Show threadAndromeda YeltonAug 29, 2023
@cfiesler Hooray! I sent an email to you about her school (it's unusual) at whatever my gmail had for you, and then I looked up your actual proper email to introduce you to the teacher. yessssss i think you can get so much out of talking to one another :D
Show threadDr. Casey FieslerAug 30, 2023
@thatandromeda I actually don't have another email from you! I checked my personal gmail, so maybe it's an older one... I don't even remember how we met so who knows haha.
Show threadAndromeda YeltonAug 30, 2023
@cfiesler Heh, OK! I will forward it to the other other email.
Show threadGromsAug 29, 2023
@cfiesler a sieve can differentiate between small and large particles...AI ? #AI
Show threadIrene JayesAug 30, 2023
@cfiesler hi. I have a very with it teen who would probably have tons of questions??
Show threadDr. Casey FieslerAug 30, 2023
@ij I didn’t want to be the internet stranger asking kids for info, which is why I wanted to make sure it came from parents and teachers, but it’s fine with me if you want to give them the fork directly.
Show threadIrene JayesAug 30, 2023
@cfiesler ok, let's see what they say