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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

#301

Post by slfnflctd »

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…

Offtopic, but if by "Dragon Wing series" you are referring to the Death Gate Cycle by Weis & Hickman, it has been beloved to me since I read it as a teen in the 90s. I have gone through this entire series at least 3 times despite not usually re-reading books, and I feel like it holds up.

I think it also influenced a lot of work which came afterward.

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

#303

Post by metalspot »

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…

[flagged]

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

#304

Post by nougati »

jjav wrote: post #138

This is very sad. Just spend the time in person with the 5 year old, no screens, no AI, nothing impersonal. A 5 year old just wants mommy and daddy in person playing with them. No 5 year old (or any age in that neighborhood) should be exposed to screens.

I agree with this sentiment but I admit I can't see it cut so cleanly. It's fair that no screens is the ideal, especially for young kids. I struggle to see it as ultimately sad though; if this serves only to replace human interaction for young kids, that would be bad, but this isn't necessarily so.

I think there are real issues in today's world with screens, but software and education have an amazing capability. I'd certainly caution the business towards the subject matter. The moment that this becomes a way for parents to neglect children, or for children to avoid socialisation, then it's sad. Until then, it's good to see any software initiatives aimed at exploring educational software.

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

#305

Post by TonyAlicea10 »

metalspot wrote: post #303
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…

[flagged]

Reading books does not have the psychological effects of passing cognition to an LLM.

EDIT: A "luddite" is opposed to new technology. I'm a coder and technical educator. I teach people to use LLMs.

Responsible use of a new technology is not being a luddite. And there are equivalent concerns of the effects of social media on children as well.

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

#306

Post by lifeformed »

Marha01 wrote: post #234
TonyAlicea10 wrote: post #228

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> 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.

> Ask them how many r's are in strawberry. 2024 called and wants its talking points back. > 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. All of these can be true, and at the same it can be true that a child tutored by a good quality state-of-the-art LLM with a good teaching-focused harness could…

This assumes that children's learning is solely about correctness and obtaining information. There is a whole universe of other considerations, like interacting with other people, with adults, with fallible authority figures. Having a conversation with a teacher and getting the wrong answer teaches you far more about being a human being and living in a human society, than getting facts back from a screen. Yes, teachers being incorrect is something that should be improved, but reducing human interaction is not an improvement.

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

#307

Post by forgetfreeman »

lern_too_spel wrote: post #274
bluefirebrand wrote: post #203

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Most critiques of AI are based on experience with the cheapest AI available a year ago, by midwits You don't even need to use AI at all to have valid critiques of it Plenty of other people are showing its flaws daily by replacing their entire personalities with AI slop Oh it can do some impressive stuff sure. It is still bad for society

To make my earlier critique of your argument clearer, some applications of AI might be bad for society, but it does not follow that the tutoring application is also bad for society.

Educational outcomes tank when computers are introduced to classrooms. It absolutely follows that AI as a tutoring application is bad for society.

https://fortune.com/2026/03/14/america-math-and-reading-scor...

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

#308

Post by duskdozer »

blitzar wrote: post #288
4c1e6cf928 wrote: post #177

This is bad and you should feel bad about it. What the actual F? You can't be real man. Yeah, lets just monetize kids and ruin their lifes. What a great idea!

Welcome to silicon valley. Enjoy your stay.

I need to stop coming here; I keep "dead dove, do not eat"ing myself.

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

#309

Post by mahogany »

jjav wrote: post #138

This is very sad. Just spend the time in person with the 5 year old, no screens, no AI, nothing impersonal. A 5 year old just wants mommy and daddy in person playing with them. No 5 year old (or any age in that neighborhood) should be exposed to screens.

I am skeptical of using AI for a tutor and would not give it to my kid, but I find the staunch no-screens sentiment equally ridiculous and similar to saying no-books.

Do you have kids? Are you telling me that you and the other parent spend (or spent) 100% of your time with your 5 year old? We spend a ton of time with our kid but also he watches educational TV. Unless you are privileged enough to have a nanny, having your kid constantly with another person is unrealistic to me. Then it is a matter of what they will do alone, and I don't see how a screen is inherently worse than other solo activities. I played video games and tinkered with DOS when I was a young kid and learned a lot, which led to my current career.

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

#310

Post by TonyAlicea10 »

IshKebab wrote: post #295
TonyAlicea10 wrote: post #228

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> 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.

> There are 3 letter *"r"*s in "strawberry." > > Spelled out: s t r a w b e r r y → the r's are the 3rd, 8th, and 9th letters. > Teachers don't make confident mistakes because the student asked the wrong way. I don't see why the mechanism of being wrong matters. If anything it's worse when teachers are reliably wrong independently of how you ask the question. > Teachers can be held accountable. lol no. Have you ever…

> That's just such a weird point to make.

No, it's not. The claim that "teacher's make mistakes too" suggests that AI is equivalent to a human teacher in value. I posit other ways in which a human teacher is potentially more valuable.

Also, teachers who love their students tend to want to educate them well.

> lol no. Have you ever tried correcting a teacher?

Do you mean as a student? If so, that's a different dynamic. Because teachers certainly have accountability processes in many institutions.

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