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Building a real-time AI tutor for 5-year-olds

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Re: Building a real-time AI tutor for 5-year-olds

#221

Post by lelanthran »

ooopsnevermind wrote: post #32

Super curious to hear from the parents here: Honestly, at this point isn't not exposing our kids to AI just setting them up to fail in the future? Like not letting them learn to use the internet? I have friends who are actually teaching their kids how to use AI because they don't want them to fall behind

> Honestly, at this point isn't not exposing our kids to AI just setting them up to fail in the future?

The whole point of AI is to enable unskilled people to perform skilled tasks.

In your mind, what skill does a person actually learn from getting onboard AI usage early? It's the other way around; those who come to it late (when the models are more capable) are going to have a shorter learning curve.

Re: Building a real-time AI tutor for 5-year-olds

#222

Post by zulban »

The criticisms here remind me of a quotation that I'll paraphrase: "in silicon valley there's a million apps to order a coffee, but not one to teach you to read".

People seem to have the basic premise: why not just get an educated adult, or good teacher, or personal human tutor for the kids which is so much better?

Well there's a billion parents who cannot ever afford that...

So I'd just like to note that HN is absolutely 100% not the kind of community that you need to impress or sell to. Best of luck.

Re: Building a real-time AI tutor for 5-year-olds

#225

Post by fma »

ooopsnevermind wrote: post #32

Super curious to hear from the parents here: Honestly, at this point isn't not exposing our kids to AI just setting them up to fail in the future? Like not letting them learn to use the internet? I have friends who are actually teaching their kids how to use AI because they don't want them to fall behind

Fall behind what. How long does it take to learn how to use AI.

I would rather my kids have the intelligence to know when to figure out AI is wrong than to start using Ai at an early age.

Re: Building a real-time AI tutor for 5-year-olds

#226

Post by zzzeek »

IG_Semmelweiss wrote: post #166

I'm torn about this. I primarily think that a a kid who won't pick books is a failure of the family of not noticing their interests. When i noticed my oldest 3 yr old was obsessed about cars, i bought him a car encyclopedia. He probably could not read most words or did not understand them. But pretty soon he was telling me about car models that i did not even recognize myself. And as i saw interests, i kept feeding t…

> At some point, you need to watch out for cynical/nasty series. In fact, all of the books we purchase are ranked against peers they have read in the past, or those we know to actively avoid buying due to cynicism, sarcasm, or open disdain towards adults (Wimpy Kid).

yeah how do you "know" this? our kid is obsessed with wimpy kid and a few other similar series and "cynicism" nails it perfectly, is there a list? of what's known to be "cynical" and what's not?

Re: Building a real-time AI tutor for 5-year-olds

#228

Post by TonyAlicea10 »

IshKebab wrote: post #216
TonyAlicea10 wrote: post #201

I think teaching a child to trust an LLM from a formative age is horrifically irresponsible. If anything, an app should be made where a child learns to correct an LLM's mistakes and learn that it isn't trustworthy. Actually, better, don't put an LLM in front of children. At all. EDIT: If a use case is for children who can't afford good education, then use an LLM to make educational materials for children, review them…

I don't think it's quite as simple as that. LLMs do make mistakes but generally with slightly obscure difficult stuff. They're not going to struggle at all with things a 4-9 year old is learning. Also it's not like teachers never make confident mistakes.

> They're not going to struggle at all with things a 4-9 year old is learning.

Ask them how many r's are in strawberry.

> Also it's not like teachers never make confident mistakes.

That's an extraordinary false equivalency that is popular around here. Teachers don't make confident mistakes because the student asked the wrong way. Teachers can be held accountable. Teachers can learn. Teachers can love their students.

Re: Building a real-time AI tutor for 5-year-olds

#229

Post by forgetfreeman »

jatins wrote: post #120
forgetfreeman wrote: post #98

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Probably when it stops agreeing with me when I tell it that industrial quantities of garlic salt are an acceptable substitution for coco powder in a chocolate mousse recipe...

Why are you telling it that? No one is arguing LLMs are perfect but at this point dismissing them as stochastic parrots seems a bit silly

It's not silly, it's just the most convenient and broadly relatable failure mode. I mean, I could compile a 20 bullet point copypasta detailing everything from prompt injection to exfiltration of sensitive data as-a-feature but if touts are willing to stoop to ignoring all of that while arguing obvious reductio ad absurdum at face value there appears to be little point at tilting that windmill. The Bullshit Asymmetry Principle is definitely winning here.

Re: Building a real-time AI tutor for 5-year-olds

#230

Post by news_hacker »

IshKebab wrote: post #216
TonyAlicea10 wrote: post #201

I think teaching a child to trust an LLM from a formative age is horrifically irresponsible. If anything, an app should be made where a child learns to correct an LLM's mistakes and learn that it isn't trustworthy. Actually, better, don't put an LLM in front of children. At all. EDIT: If a use case is for children who can't afford good education, then use an LLM to make educational materials for children, review them…

I don't think it's quite as simple as that. LLMs do make mistakes but generally with slightly obscure difficult stuff. They're not going to struggle at all with things a 4-9 year old is learning. Also it's not like teachers never make confident mistakes.

> They're not going to struggle at all with things a 4-9 year old is learning

Children ask some incredibly deep questions, I would not sell them short.

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