If you try to recall images from moments of carefree childhood, his mind is sure to “run away” at a time when he was playing hide and seek with his friends carefree. Generations and generations have grown up and continue to grow up playing hide-and-seek at school, at home and in the countryside. However, now many children of primary school age are asked to play hide-and-seek at school. And that’s because what they’re looking for in this particular game is not their boyfriend or girlfriend, but an artificial intelligence app.

In particular, a fifth grade teacher at a school in Lexington, Kentucky, asked his students to… play hide-and-seek with ChatGPT. Twenty-three students wrote an essay about boxing champion Muhammad Ali and then shared the essay among themselves to identify a unique text based on the ChatGPT responses. According to their teacher Donnie Piercy, the goal was for the kids to “trick” the chatbot, not the other way around, as at some point artificial intelligence would become part of their daily lives.

Robots in elementary school classrooms

OUR European Commission Joint Research Center Research Fellow Vicki Harisi, Speaking to K about a study she and her team did at the European Commission’s Joint Research Center, she analyzes the impact of social robots on children’s cognitive and social development.

“We recently conducted a pilot study in Spain with 86 primary school students. There we created hybrid teams of two children (5-7 years old) and a robot, who were asked to solve a problem together. We used a cognitive task-solving activity (Tower of Hanoi task), which the robot recorded with two cameras and asked the children to solve the problem together with the robot by performing certain actions. Communication with the robot was based on dialogue as well as non-verbal elements. We created two scenarios: in one, the robot always suggested the correct answer, and in the second, it deliberately made a mistake. In this process we noticed that when the robot made mistakes, it caused more discussion between the children, affecting the cooperation between the students.. We also noticed in conversations with children that students – after interacting with robots – often trusted the robot even when the robot made mistakes“, points out the European Commission researcher, adding that the international scientific community is still trying to understand how and why children develop trust in social robots.

Children are already using AI applications but are often unaware of it

And while the education community has raised concerns about ChatGPT, access by elementary school students to AI-enabled apps and devices is common, but usually done without their knowledge, as Vicki Harisi points out in K.

“The use of recommender systems based on artificial intelligence methods is already widespread. Also in the context of education, many children use online smart tutoring systems for personalized learning, in which they can determine the pace and way of learning various subjects with excellent results,” she emphasizes, pointing out that the world’s educational community is now experiencing rapid development, arising from how students use applications of large language models to prepare their assignments in various subjects.

The European Commission researcher believes that tools such as ChatGPT make it easier for students to quickly and easily access materials using natural language, personalized learning and improve their interaction with educational material.

“Especially for children with special learning abilities, integrating such tools into devices that convert written to spoken language can be a catalyst for their education,” he says, showing another look at the use of artificial intelligence applications in schools in the future.

Need to develop critical thinking

However, the fact that there are positives to the use of chatbots in schools does not mean that they do not bring with them a number of problems that students are not yet ready to face. Or that young children are perfectly prepared to “play with them.”

“It is imperative to develop critical thinking in children so that they do not perceive uncritically and uncritically the information and texts produced in this way. They also need appropriate and fast innovative action so that the state, school and students can use them effectively and safely and get the maximum benefit,” says Ms Harisi, pointing out that there are already studies that show the magnitude of the impact of new technologies. on the behavior and development of children.

Adaptation of educational goals through artificial intelligence

Based on the results of the study on the impact of artificial intelligence on children, UNICEF has already proposed a list of recommendations to protect the rights of children in the context of artificial intelligence, such as the right to privacy and protection of their data, as well as the need for transparency in decision-making systems when interacting with children. As a member of international groups promoting children’s rights as defined by the United Nations, B. Harisi notes that design and develop safe applications for children, cooperation of government agencies, with specialized researchers and companies in the development of artificial intelligence applications is mandatory.

But we can let kids interact freely with artificial apps. intelligence and robots, or should specialists create a special framework for their proper use and familiarity?

Ms. Harisi believes that the use of AI-based technology will quickly find its way into schools. However, its integration must be done methodically.

“We must not forget that the goal is to use these technologies to improve the learning process, as well as to protect students from negative consequences,” the researcher says, believing that this is why the goals of education should be changed.

“More attention should be paid to activities that develop not only children’s technical knowledge about these technologies, but mainly their cognitive skills that allow them to be used correctly as a new educational tool,” she suggests, concluding that, in her opinion , the international community is already aware of supporting the development of children in the context of artificial intelligence.