Real vs. Digital Friends
Start by asking students to think about what makes a good friend.
Ask:
- Is a good friend kind?
- Is a good friend honest?
Next, have them spend a few minutes writing down every quality of a good friend that they can think of. When they’re done, have each student choose the two or three qualities they feel are most important and share those with the class. (If you like, you can record the answers on the board.) Which qualities come up most often?
Now ask students whether any of them have ever used a chatbot. (You can prompt them with examples like ChatGPT, Character.AI, Gemini, and Snapchat’s My AI.)
Then ask:
- How is a chatbot like a real friend?
- How is it unlike a friend?
Have students access the student chapter Interacting with AI and select the chapter “Real vs. Digital Friends.”
You can either have them do this individually or in pairs and then have students share their findings, or complete it together as a class.
Ask these prompting questions as students are working:
- Do chatbots ask you questions?
- Do chatbots listen to you?
- Can chatbots give you advice?
Most likely, students will find a fair number of ways in which chatbots and real friends are similar. They will probably also show some confusion or disagreement about how chatbots work and to what extent they really “think” or have a personality.