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Nachrichten, Termine, Experten
Nachrichten, Termine, Experten
idw - Informationsdienst
Wissenschaft
Alexa tells bedtime stories, YouTube recommends new videos, and learning apps adapt tasks to children’s behaviour: artificial intelligence is part of everyday life even for the youngest children. Yet neither children nor adults are often aware of the decisions being made behind the scenes by AI systems. KIKI*, led by the University of Duisburg-Essen, aims to help children from an early age to use digital applications safely, critically and independently. The Federal Ministry for Education, Family Affairs, Senior Citizens, Women and Youth is funding the three-year project with around €926,000.
Studies show that as many as 41 per cent of two- to five-year-olds already have access to voice assistants, 21 per cent own a tablet of their own, and ten per cent have their own smartphone. At the same time, adults often do not directly supervise their use of these technologies. This entails risks. Many children perceive AI systems as human-like, share personal information with them, or fail to recognise that AI can generate inaccurate content and collect personal data. The University of Duisburg-Essen’s (UDE) KIKI project addresses these challenges.
“We want to empower children from an early age to use AI applications safely, critically and independently,” says Natalia Szymczyk, researcher at the UDE Chair of Social Psychology: Media and Communication. Led by Professor Nicole Krämer, the research team is working together with pre-school children aged four to six to develop analogue and digital learning activities that explain fundamental AI concepts in an age-appropriate way. The children themselves contribute their own experiences and ideas throughout the process.
The project uses a range of tools, including wooden building blocks, picture cards, tactile games and child-friendly digital applications, through which children can explore abstract concepts such as algorithms and machine learning in a playful way. “We want to communicate clearly that AI is not human, that AI makes mistakes, and that AI collects data,” Szymczyk explains. To achieve this, the team is adapting existing games and concepts for younger children and expanding them with digital learning activities. The work builds on an existing game developed by computer scientists at FELI- Research group for elementary and primary computer science, who are also involved in the project.
The researchers will then examine how effective the materials are and identify differences between analogue and digital learning formats. In the long term, the findings will be disseminated nationwide, including through training programmes for children, parents and educational professionals.
In addition to the social psychology sub-project at the University of Duisburg-Essen, the University of Tübingen‘s International Centre for Ethics and the University of Bamberg’s Department of Cognitive Systems and Computer Science in Primary Education are also involved.
Natalia Szymczyk, Sozialpsychologie: Medien und Kommunikation, natalia.szymczyk@uni-due.de
Prof. Dr. Nicole Krämer, Sozialpsychologie: Medien und Kommunikation, nicole.kraemer@uni-due.de
Criteria of this press release:
Journalists
Media and communication sciences, Psychology, Social studies, Teaching / education
transregional, national
Research projects
English
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