Content-type: text/html Downes.ca ~ Stephen's Web ~ AI 'Companions' are Patient, Funny, Upbeat - and Probably Rewiring Kids' Brains

Stephen Downes

Knowledge, Learning, Community

Loaded commentary about the rising trend of chatbots for children (I've documented a few of these recently). Greg Toppo uses the 'one observer' device to editorialize while pretending to report news: "The proliferation of friendly, often sexually suggestive, chatbots is 'making it so easy to make a bad choice,' one observer says," he writes. To be clear - everything rewires kids' brains. The more exposure they get, whether to television, nature or chatbots, the more they will learn from that exposure. That's why simply banning chatbots won't help - if they put down the chatbot and start watching Fox News, they're no better off. What we want are chatbots that promote healthy attitudes and habits of mind. The best way to do that is to build them, rather than complaining about them. But hey, why do that when you can write a good scare story?

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Stephen Downes Stephen Downes, Casselman, Canada
stephen@downes.ca

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Last Updated: Dec 21, 2024 11:59 p.m.

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