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Lesson 2 of 12 · What AI is

How a chatbot writes: guessing the next word

Through a class next-word game, students see that a chatbot builds its answers by guessing a likely next word, and that a likely answer can still be wrong.

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Lesson 2 of 12 · What AI is · Teacher's plan

How a chatbot writes: guessing the next word

Through a class next-word game, students see that a chatbot builds its answers by guessing a likely next word, and that a likely answer can still be wrong.

Students will be able to

  • describe how a chatbot writes text one small piece at a time by guessing what comes next
  • explain why a likely answer is not always a true answer
  • use a class tally to find the most likely next word
  • say one reason to check what a chatbot tells them

Prepare

  • Six to eight unfinished sentences written on the board or on slips (see the plan)
  • Small paper slips, three or four per student
  • A projector and one teacher device for the short follow-up (optional)
  • One worksheet per student

Words to know

Chatbot:
A computer program you type to, which writes replies in everyday language.
Next-word guess:
Picking the word most likely to come next, based on patterns in lots of text.
Token:
A small piece of text, a word or part of a word, that a chatbot reads and writes.
Made-up answer:
A reply that sounds confident and correct but is wrong or invented.

Main activity · Unplugged: paper and pens

The class next-word game

Students each write the next word for unfinished sentences, the class tallies the answers and picks the most popular one, then builds a whole sentence word by word. Some sentences lead to a popular answer that is wrong, which shows how a chatbot can sound sure and still be mistaken.

ManuAI pages for this lesson

The 45-minute plan · 45 minutes

Warm-up6 min

Finish my sentence

  • Say slowly: "Every morning I brush my..." and let the class shout the end.
  • Try two more: "The sky is..." and "Happy birthday to...".
  • Ask: "How did you all know the same word?" Draw out that we have heard these patterns many times.
Activity18 min

Tally the next word

  • Show an unfinished sentence such as "After school I like to play...". Each student writes one next word on a slip.
  • Collect slips by row and tally the top answers on the board. Circle the winner.
  • Repeat with two or three sentences. Point out the tallies: the class is a small language model.
  • Now build a sentence together: start with "Yesterday my cat", pick the most popular next word each round for five rounds.
  • Try a trap sentence: "The capital of Australia is...". Many will say Sydney. The correct answer is Canberra.
  • Explain: a chatbot does this with patterns from huge amounts of text. The popular word and the true word are sometimes different.
Practice16 min

Worksheet and teacher demo

  • Students complete the worksheet in pairs.
  • If you have a projector, open the ManuAI page on tokens on your screen and show how text is split into small pieces.
  • Discuss task 4 together: when would a likely guess be risky? Health, money and homework facts are good examples.
Wrap-up5 min

Sounds sure, still check

  • Ask: "Does a chatbot know if its answer is true?" Agree that it picks likely words and can be wrong.
  • Write on the board: likely is not the same as true.
  • Hand out the exit ticket.

Teacher tips

  • Safety: many chatbots have a minimum age, often 13 and sometimes higher. Run any live demo yourself on one projected screen. Do not ask students to sign up for an account.
  • Misconception: students may think a chatbot "searches Google" or "knows" answers. Some tools do search, but the writing itself is still next-word guessing. Keep coming back to the tally on the board.
  • Large classes: collect slips from one row per sentence to keep tallying quick. Strong students can try to write a trap sentence of their own, one where the popular word is wrong.

Exit ticket answers

  1. A chatbot writes its answer by: B. guessing the next small piece of text, again and again
  2. A chatbot answers in a very confident way. Does that mean it is right? Explain. A good answer: No. It picks words that are likely to come next, and a likely answer can be wrong. Confidence in the wording does not show it is true, so we should check important facts.
  3. Which is the safest thing to do with a fact a chatbot gives you for homework? D. Check it in a textbook or with a teacher
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Worksheet · Lesson 2 of 12 · What AI is

Guess the next word

NameClassDate

Work with a partner. Think like a chatbot: what word is most likely to come next?

  1. 1Write the next word you think most people would choose, then a less common one that also works.

    Start of sentenceMost likely next wordLess likely, still possible
    I drink a glass of...
    My school bag is very...
    On Sunday we went to the...
    The teacher asked us to open our...

  2. 2How does a chatbot choose the next word?

    • It looks the answer up in a book of true facts
    • It asks a person in an office
    • It picks a likely word based on patterns in the text it learned from
    • It chooses a word completely at random

  3. 3In the game, many people guessed Sydney for the capital of Australia. Why can the most popular guess be wrong?

  4. 4Name one kind of question where a wrong chatbot answer could cause a real problem. Explain why.

  5. 5Build your own sentence word by word with your partner, taking turns to add the most likely word. Write it here, then circle any word where you had a choice.

Free to print and share in classrooms and at home.ManuAI · free AI lessons for everyone · ai.manusignal.com

Cut along the dotted lines: two tickets per page.

Exit ticket · Lesson 2ManuAI

How a chatbot writes: guessing the next word

NameClassDate

  1. 1A chatbot writes its answer by:

    • Acopying a whole answer from one website
    • Bguessing the next small piece of text, again and again
    • Cunderstanding the world exactly like a person
    • Dasking the internet for the true answer every time

  2. 2A chatbot answers in a very confident way. Does that mean it is right? Explain.

  3. 3Which is the safest thing to do with a fact a chatbot gives you for homework?

    • ACopy it straight away
    • BTrust it if it sounds clever
    • CAsk the chatbot to say it again louder
    • DCheck it in a textbook or with a teacher