L272 · Staying safe · 3 min
Teach your kids to check AI
Children should learn early that a chatbot can sound sure of itself and still be wrong.
01 · The idea
Kids tend to trust anything that answers quickly and politely. A chatbot does both. It can also invent a fact, a date or a book title, and say it in the same confident tone as everything else. This is called a hallucination.
Chatbots also like to agree. If your child says "Ho Chi Minh City is the capital, right?", some chatbots will go along with it. Teach your child that a reply that agrees with them is not proof.
Give them a simple habit: for anything that matters, check it in a second place. A school textbook, a teacher, an encyclopedia or a trusted news site all count.
Make it a game. When you catch the chatbot making a mistake together, celebrate it. Your child learns that spotting errors is a skill to be proud of.
02 · Think of it like this
Treat the chatbot like a friend who loves to talk and sometimes makes things up. Fun to chat with, and worth a double check before you repeat what they said.
03 · Do it now
04 · Quick check
Words in this lesson
See also
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AI at school: rules and honesty
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Viral health claims
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L014Staying safe · 2 min
Check what AI tells you
Use AI for a first draft of the truth, then check anything that matters before you act on it.
L309AI at work · 3 min
Choose a phone or laptop with AI
AI is a good advisor for working out what you need in a phone or laptop, and a poor source for the newest models and prices.