A New Research Let Youngsters Play With AI-Powered Toys. By Stage 3, They Wished to Throw Them within the Ocean
Let’s talk about generations and technology.
EXPERT OPINION BY BILL MURPHY JR., FOUNDER OF UNDERSTANDABLY AND CONTRIBUTING EDITOR, INC. @BILLMURPHYJR
- Once upon a time there were Millennials. They were singled out in one think piece after another for being the first generation growing up with the Internet.
- Next came Generation Z, the digital natives. Their oldest members were only 10 when Steve Jobs took to the stage in 2007 and introduced the iPhone.
- Now, we have Generation Alpha, which for better or worse will be known as the first AI-native generation.
How much Generation Alpha will use AI is interesting. But more fascinating to me is how growing up interacting with AI will change how they interact with people.
That question came to mind when I read about a recent University of Washington study in which researchers introduced young children to voice-enabled AI toys and watched their reactions.
(I’ve embedded a video at the end of this article where you can see the reaction for yourself. The study itself was presented at a conference in the United Kingdom earlier this year.)
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This was avery small study with only eight children ages 6 to 11. But their reactions were fascinating:
- In the first stage, they seemed open to the toys, asked their names, and tried to play with them.
- In the second stage, they quickly became frustrated. The AI toys didn’t understand what they were saying, talked over them, or steered conversations away.
- By stage 3, the kids became flat-out antagonistic in some cases, calling the toys “ugly” and “evil,” and “joking about throwing them in the ocean.”
Again: small study.
And these are young kids. So, while there are a lot of studies out there showing the degree to which they are using AI (substantially), there aren’t many yet on how they react to AI.
Source: www.inc.com
