A teacher in an international school in Panama asks her students to critique essays "written" by ChatGPT, while others have their students fact-check AI material, according to Time. University of Pennsylvania professor Ethan Mollick requires his students to use generative AI while holding them accountable for the information in whatever they produce with it. These are great ways for students both … [Read more...] about Should our kids learn how to use generative AI? Well…
Research
Generative AI: July 2023 freeze frame
It's feeling like I need a large language model brain to write about safety with large language models. [I certify that I only wish I had such a brain, and I am a human.] So let's freeze the film for a moment and see where we humans are with generative AI safety. First, so that we're all on the same page, a large language model is basically an algorithmic structure called a "neural … [Read more...] about Generative AI: July 2023 freeze frame
Surgeon general’s advisory: Let’s take stock
US Surgeon General Vivek Murthy advises that "we are experiencing a youth mental health crisis." Based on the data, there's no question about that. Where there is a question is whether tech and media are the cause. Some scholars simply assert they are (see the sidebar below), but neither the surgeon general nor the American Psychological Association asserts that, and the APA just wrote in its … [Read more...] about Surgeon general’s advisory: Let’s take stock
Lawmakers, controlling and banning kids doesn’t help
The "control paradigm" around child online safety, which researchers on three continents have been calling out for at least five years, is in full bloom now. The term comes from a 2019 book by four Australian scholars about how control and surveillance have come to define digital safety, inclusion and citizenship. (Does that give you pause – especially around the citizenship piece?) Among … [Read more...] about Lawmakers, controlling and banning kids doesn’t help
New clarity on child sexual exploitation online
A lot of important research insights and guidance on the forms and impact of CSE online have been published by researchers on both sides of the Atlantic recently. Here are some key findings pulled together in one place with links to academic sources and resources for better prevention education.... "Stranger danger" is just as problematic and misleading a term now as sociologists found it to be … [Read more...] about New clarity on child sexual exploitation online