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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

#311

Post by kmitz »

This is a terrible idea. Screen time hinders the development of fundamental skills, including language and social interaction, especially for children of these ages.

France have already moved to ban screens from places with children under 3. Other countries (including UK, Australia) are also setting strong limits on screen use for kids under 5. This is for a reason.

Products like this are driven by business interests, not good will. Good parenting with screen control is the best way to have a fulfilled and happy child. Protect your children, keep them away from screens while they are under 5 and guide them carefully when you introduce screen time.

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

#312

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…

> Anyway no learning is needed for 4-9 year old education.

This is an extraordinarily naive statement. Learning how to teach well takes a lifelong commitment. A topic being basic for an adult does not mean it is easier to teach to a child. In many ways it makes it harder.

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

#314

Post by liendolucas »

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]

> AI is a massive leap forward in providing safe and educational digital experience.

Can you point to any serious studies that sustain that claim? If anything that sounds like a gamifying learning experience, letting children become expert beginners.

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

#315

Post by gowld »

burgreblast wrote: post #253
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…

Perhaps human teachers would model correct grammar? vs "you like dinosaurs! me too!” From the blog post.

That is "correct" grammar, English as she is spoke.

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

#316

Post by metalspot »

TonyAlicea10 wrote: post #305
metalspot wrote: post #303

Earlier quoted context omitted.

[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.

literacy causes profound brain structure changes and psychological effects, and mass literacy results in profound social transformation. which is why people have be trying to prevent the spread of literacy for thousands of years, to this very day.

an LLM is a next token prediction function. of course it matters how you use it, and if you want to use it for an educational purpose, that has to be intentional, so i agree with you on that.

chatgpt and all the other ai powered scams and attention monetization apps are horrible, because they are just using improved technology to accelerate the exploitation of consumers (both adults and children) of media and app platforms.

the solution here is not to say the technology is bad but to use it to create competitive products that are actually beneficial.

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

#318

Post by Jap2-0 »

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…

> > Teachers can love their students.

> That's just such a weird point to make. It is great that my kids' primary school teachers are super kind and loving. But it's not what they're for, and it's definitely not what AI tutors are for. Nobody is claiming this will replace a hug from a parent.

This doesn't seem weird at all. Developmentally they need (kind, loving) human interaction. That's obviously not the only purpose of teachers, but if you think 7 hours a day without it wouldn't make a difference... just like a computer can't be held accountable, a computer can't have compassion.

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

#320

Post by metalspot »

liendolucas wrote: post #314
metalspot wrote: post #303

Earlier quoted context omitted.

[flagged]

> AI is a massive leap forward in providing safe and educational digital experience. Can you point to any serious studies that sustain that claim? If anything that sounds like a gamifying learning experience, letting children become expert beginners.

Can you point to any serious studies that show the opposite? No. They don't exist. There cannot be any serious studies until there is a generational cohort that can be evaluated for long term impact.

But on a personal level I would vastly prefer my children use even a crappy AI chat app like Deepseek than watch Youtube. If you have young children and pay attention it would be almost impossible to come to a different conclusion.

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