Lesson: Introducing AI

Big ideas/key concepts: Students will understand that…

Media are constructions:

• AI is a product of human choice
• Creators at toy or app companies choose the AI’s name, its words, and the training data that shapes its behavior.

Digital media experiences are shaped by the tools we use:

• An AI’s “decisions” are constrained by the rules and patterns it identifies within the software.
• An AI’s behavior changes depending on whether its makers provided narrow or broad examples during its training.

Misconceptions to correct: AIs think, feel and make decisions the way people do.

Essential knowledge: Students will know…

• Reading Media: AI tools are constructed by people and companies; AIs computer programs rather than independent thinkers whose “intelligence” comes from its ability to look for patterns in the information its makers provide.
• Ethics and Empathy: Humans have a responsibility to monitor and correct AI when it makes mistakes.

Key vocabulary: AI, trained, patterns,

Ad

A media work that that tries to get you to want or buy something.

AI

A computer program that can learn from examples. AIs can also learn from their own mistakes.

Animation

A media form that uses many still images to make the illusion of movement.

Anishnaabe

A group of culturally related First Nations Peoples living in central Canada and the United States, including the Algonquin, Odawa, Ojibwe, Potawatomi, and Oji-Cree.

Apps

Programs on a phone or tablet. Some examples of apps are games and social networks.

Autoplay

When a new video starts playing automatically after another one ends.

Avatar

A virtual “you” that you control in a game or a virtual world.

Brand

The different images, words, and other ways that advertisers help you like and remember their products

Close-up

A shot in which the camera seems very close to the subject. In a close-up of a person's face, it is easy to see the facial features and identify the emotion of a character.

Cookies

Files that are saved to your computer by websites. They let the website remember things about you and about what you did on the website.

Crop

Cropping is cutting away part of an image.

Cyberbullying

Being mean or cruel to someone else using a digital device.

detect

To detect something means to find or notice it.

Digital footprint

A record of what we have done online. Like a real footprint, we leave them wherever we go.

Download

Copying a file or app from the internet to your device.

Draft

A major revision of a work. The first finished work is called the "first draft." The published work is called the "final draft."

Empathy

When you think about how someone else is feeling or how they might feel if something happens.

Expert

Someone who knows a lot about something.

Focal point

A focal point is the part of the image that our eyes are most drawn to.

Foley

A Foley artist makes sounds that go with the images in a media work such as a movie, a TV show or a video game.

Framing

Framing is what the media makers choose to show us or how they choose to present it.

Greyscale

A range of gray shades from white to black.

Hashtag

A word or phrase with a number sign (#) before it. People use hashtags to make what they post easier to find.

Hyperlink

A text or image that brings you somewhere else on the internet when you click or tap it.

In focus

An image is in focus if it is clear and defined. Lines will be straight and details clear if an image is in focus.

Internet

A network of computers around the world that most digital devices connect to. When you play an online game, watch a video online, or use a social network, you are connecting to the internet.

Keyword

Keywords are the words you put in a search engine to find what you're looking for.

Malware

Programs that make your device do things you don’t want it to. They can make it run more slowly or not work at all, steal your data, or give other people access to your device.

Medium shot

A shot where the camera appears to be a short distance away from what we're seeing. In a medium shot of a person, this shot includes the head and upper body.

Mentor

Someone who teaches and gives advice to a younger person.

Métis

A distinct Indigenous People that originated with people of mixed First Nations and European ancestry. The Métis history and culture draw on diverse ancestral origins, such as Scottish, Irish, French, Ojibwe, and Cree.

Michif

The language spoken by the Métis People across the Métis homeland in Canada and the United States.

Network

A group of digital devices that are linked by two-way connections. The internet is a network that most digital devices are connected to.

Offline

Things that don’t happen on the internet are offline.

Online

When you’re using the internet you are online.

Optical effect

A special effect added in post-production, after the video has been filmed.

Out of focus

An image is out of focus if it is fuzzy and poorly defined. Lines will be wavy and details hazy if an image is in focus.

patterns

Something that repeats in a way you can notice.

Personal information

Things you post online, or that are collected by apps and websites you use that can identify you, including your name, address, date of birth, and photograph.

Perspective

A particular attitude towards or way of regarding something.

Phishing

When scammers try to trick you to get you to give them information about yourself or get access to your accounts or devices.

Pixilation

A kind of animation where photos of people are used instead of drawings.

Point of view

The perspective of the narrator in relation to the story; the vantage point from which events are seen (e.g., first, second, or third person; omniscient, limited, or unreliable).

Practical effect

A practical effect is a special effect that is used during production, like creature makeup or puppets.

Privacy

Privacy means having some control over information about yourself — your personal information — and being able to make good choices about how it is collected, used, and shared with others, like people you don’t know, companies, and the government.

Privacy policy

An app or website’s privacy policies says what it will do with the information it collects from and about you.

Privacy settings

Your choices about who will see the things you post on a website, social network or game. Changing your privacy settings changes the default. You can always choose to have a particular thing seen by more or fewer people.

Profile

Your account on a social network. It usually includes things like your name and things you’ve posted.

Rule of notice

Rules of notice are the techniques, codes and conventions that media makers use to tell you what to notice and how to feel about what's happening.

Search engine

An app or website that lets you find websites by entering search terms.

Smart device

When something that isn’t usually a digital device, like a toy or a TV, is connected to the internet we call it a “smart” device. That means that the people who made it can see and hear everything you do with it.

Social network

An app or a website that lets you share posts, photos, and videos with other people.

Source

Where a fact or story first came from.

Special effects

A special effect is when something special is needed to achieve an artistic outcome. For instance a director can simply film an actor dancing, but something special needs to be done to film an actor flying.

Stereotype

A representation of a kind of person that makes it seem like they are all the same.

Storyboard

A series of drawings, usually with some directions and dialogue, representing the shots planned for a video.

Theme

The main idea or implicit message that recurs in or pervades a text.

Track

Some websites and apps can get information about you even after you use them. Some of them track you across the internet to learn more about you.

trained

AIs are trained by showing them examples and correcting their mistakes.

War bonnet

A feathered headdress that is gifted to a respected person in a First Nations community and worn for ceremonial, political, or cultural purposes.

Weasel words

Words or phrases that let advertisers suggest things they can't legally say.

Website

A place on the internet that you visit with a browser like Chrome, Safari or Firefox. A lot of social networks can be used either as apps or by visiting their website.

Wide shot

A shot where the camera seems to be fairly far from what we're seeing. A wide shot of a person will include the whole body and background.

Performance tasks: Students will be able to...

• Use: Interact with and observe the behavior of talking AI toys or applications.
• Understand: Identify the secret "rules" or patterns a "robot" might be following based on a set of examples; analyze and explain why an AI might give a wrong answer.
• Engage: Design a prototype for an AI robot (the "Trashbot"); Create a training plan for an AI using a T-chart to categorize "trash" and "not trash" to help the robot find patterns; Develop a method for users to intervene and correct the robot if it makes a mistake, such as trying to throw away a personal item.

Student-friendly outcomes: We will learn that people build artificial intelligence and teach it how to act by showing it many different examples. We will think about why these tools sometimes make mistakes and why they need humans to help them learn the right way. We will practice being teachers for a robot by creating our own rules and patterns for it to follow.