The conversations
Limits are half the work. The other half is a kid who understands what these systems are, how they work, who owns them, and what they do with her attention and her data. She will use this technology in her career. She should not be mystified by it.
Every idea below is written four times, for ages 4 to 6, 7 to 9, 10 to 12, and 13 and up. Start at any age. A four-year-old can understand that a person chose what she is watching.
What it is
How it works
Who controls it
Who pays for free
If you are not paying for something, someone else is, and they are paying for your attention. That single fact explains most of how these products behave.
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Who decides what is allowed
Somebody chooses the rules for what can be said and shown, and that somebody is a company rather than a government, a court, or you.
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How it was built
Where AI learned everything
Everything an AI can do, it learned from things people made. Most of those people were never asked and were never paid.
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Why it sounds sure when it is wrong
These systems are built to sound right, and sounding right and being right are separate things it was never taught to tell apart.
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Not all AI is the same
There is no single thing called "the AI". Different companies built different systems, gave them different rules, and they behave differently on purpose.
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Risks and guardrails
What they know about you
Using something free means giving away information about yourself, and that information lasts far longer and travels much further than anyone expects.
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Is that real?
A photograph is no longer evidence that something happened. Working out what is real is now a skill rather than something you can see.
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Who is actually on the other end
Online, you cannot tell who you are talking to, and increasingly you cannot tell whether it is a person at all.
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