How Do Kids Use ChatGPT In School?

from Thinking On Paper · host Mark Fielding and Jeremy Gilbertson

A quarter of British 8 to 12 year olds have used generative AI. ChatGPT is the most popular tool, Snapchat AI is second. Half of teachers say they've already received homework that was clearly written by AI. And 58 percent of private school kids have used AI compared to just 18 percent at state schools, which is a gap so large it's reshaping the next generation's relationship with this technology before any of us have figured out what we want it to be. On this episode of Thinking on Paper, we unpack the Alan Turing Institute's new report on the impacts of generative AI on children, the largest study of its kind to date, based on a survey of 780 children, 1,001 teachers, and a workshop with 9 to 11 year olds in Scottish state schools. The report was funded in part by Lego, which is a small detail with a lot of meaning when the people who built the world's best analog play company decide to fund research on what the next thing is doing to kids. Along the way: why teachers are worried about critical thinking and parents are mostly positive, why ChatGPT is being used to "create fun pictures, find information, and entertainment" in that order, what the kids themselves said in their own words about misinformation and AI safety, the eight recommendations the Institute made for parents, teachers, and policymakers, and the one recommendation we found genuinely surprising — that kids themselves should be involved in designing the AI tools they're going to grow up using.--TIMESTAMPS(00:00) Disruptors And Curious Minds(02:40) The Alan Turing Research On The Impact Of AI On Children(03:49) The Most Popular AI Platform For Kids(04:41) How Are Kids Using AI?(04:55) Key Statistics From The Research On AI Use In School(05:33) The Divide: Private vs. Public School AI Usage(08:08) Are Kids Using AI To Cheat In School?(09:55) The RITECH Framework: Evaluating AI for Kids(11:18) Quotes From Kids On AI(16:13) Child Versions Of ChatGPT(18:12) Recommendations From The Alan Turing Institute--Other ways to connect with us:⁠Listen to every podcast⁠Follow us on ⁠Instagram⁠Follow us on ⁠X⁠Follow Mark on ⁠LinkedIn⁠Follow Jeremy on ⁠LinkedIn⁠Read our ⁠Substack⁠Email: [email protected]