Teens Take on AI | ListenUp! The KidSpirit Podcast (Ep.… — Transcript

Hi there, you are listening to Listen Up, the KidSpirit Podcast. My name is Maya Mesh, I am your host for today. I am a KidSpirit alumni, and I'm so excited to be here with you. A little bit more about KidSpirit.

So KidSpirit is an online non-profit magazine by and for teens everywhere to tackle life's big questions. So today, I am joined by the wonderful Lyla and Skyler to have a conversation about AI and its effects on our lives and how it affects how we approach everything from creativity to school. Lyla, would you like to start off by introducing yourself?

Hi, my name is Lyla Cherry and I'm a 17-year-old senior here in New York City. In my free time, I really, really like to write, that's definitely my favorite thing to do, but I also love to read and hang out with my friends. I've also been in KidSpirit for about seven years now. Skyler, what about you?

Hello, I'm Skyler. I find this whole topic really fascinating. I've been at KidSpirit for several years now. I'm a junior in high school, and I'm really interested in writing as well. I like to draw, I like to fence, but I really like to see how AI is changing and affecting my interests.

So today we're going to chat about AI, which is something that everyone seems to be talking about these days. KidSpirit recently did an entire issue devoted to AI, and I'm so curious to hear your thoughts on this potentially controversial topic.

Let's jump in. In her big question article, Mahnoor explores whether or not AI can be used ethically. In your opinion, what does a world in which AI is used ethically look like, or what does the world look like if AI is not used ethically? Lyla?

I think in a world where AI is used ethically, it would be used predominantly as a tool for assistance. I think one of the most unethical ways AI could be used if it were to like take over our jobs or our world or even like worst case scenario our humanity. I think it's really important that AI kind of stays out of the jobs that we do, so that means Skyler and I as writers, AI wouldn't like take that away from us.

I think AI can be used ethically. It's currently being used in science to create environmentally friendly rechargeable batteries that are better than lithium. Currently, they've made it from, or it started off with about 200 different compositions for batteries to for to make a rechargeable battery, but using the help of AI, they've narrowed that to about 10 different compositions. And that could be that's just one example of how AI could be used to create a better environment, make to make advances in science, especially as AI advances on its own.

Now we are going to hear from KidSpirit editor Siddhant in India. So Siddhant, I have a question for you. In his KidSpirit perspectives article, philosopher Zachary Biondi discusses AI in the context of the Luddite principle that new technology is only progress when it genuinely enriches lives.

Ask yourself: does using this technology genuinely benefit me and my community, or am I using it merely because it is convenient? And what do you think about Biondi's approach? If you apply his principle to AI, do you do you think it's ethical?

Hello everyone, my name is Siddhant Raj and I'm 14 years old. I live in Ahmedabad and I've been working for KidSpirit for the last three years. I love to write, to play basketball, and I love exploring different fields such as economics, finance, et cetera.

In my view, Dr. Biondi's approach to using AI is both ethical and efficient. It is rooted in the principles of Luddism, which advocates questioning the benefits and drawbacks of AI in specific scenarios. For instance, one question he highlighted in his article is whether AI genuinely benefits individuals and communities or merely serves as inconvenience. I firmly believe this method is crucial for maximizing AI's potential while upholding our morals and beliefs.

Do you think AI can be used to help others?

Well, I think AI can be used to help with people on their day-to-day life. Already, there's algorithms which are a form of more compact AI, which are used pretty much every day in day-to-day life, Google, Siri.

I think AI could be an amazing teaching assistant, both for teachers and students. Um, for teachers, I think it could be helpful in creating lesson plans, such as maybe when summarizing sections of textbooks, that could be great for pulling out the most important points, not necessarily for directly teaching the kids, because that is the teacher's job. And for kids, most substantially, it could be used to develop healthier study habits, maybe help create a study guide, things like that.

Um, but again, not using AI for answers, but helping you kind of achieve like that 100 that you want, kind of using AI to push you to get there. Because I think AI could benefit so many people if we use it as a tool, but not a replacement.

I'm curious, do you think AI can be used to create art?

I think that's a complicated question. The arts are super powerful and emotional and irrational because it's created from humans. And as of right now, I don't think AI can create something that irrational or subjective, because from what I know, it's based on formulas.

And if it's based on quantitative formulas, I don't think it could create something as abstract as human art. I know that when you're asking AI questions, you also have to you have to ask it that question, you have to incentivize it to give you an answer, to create a piece of art, to whatever the many, many things that AI can do. And so I think when we're creating art, we're not necessarily phrasing a question around it. We're just channeling what we're feeling and what we've experienced into our art, and AI just doesn't yet have the power to replicate those things.

I completely agree that AI is often quite lifeless when it creates art, and it lacks a lot of emotion, but I'm going to talk about more the logical and literal aspect of and the details of AI art. One example is I had I have a model, I have a pixel art drawing of a character that I tried to have drawn. I wanted to see how AI would do if I tried to give it a prompt that would draw it in. And it would miss a lot of the subtleties of that character. It would forget the spots, it wouldn't have the So my character has heterochromia, so one eye is green and one eye is yellow. And often times, it would take me about 30 regenerated responses in order to even get that correct. And it would it would fail most of the time.

Even now, if you look at this photo, it doesn't have the same feeling to it. It doesn't look right. There's a lot of small details missing. It's just wrong. But I think it could get better over time, but for right now, it's it's not good.

Let's hear from Siddhant again. I'm curious to know if AI affected your learning process so far, and has it been good and or bad for you?

For me, AI has been both a blessing and a challenge. While I often rely on apps like ChatGPT and Gemini for writing or completing assignments, I've learned to craft prompts that extract authentic insights without blindly copying the information. As a result, I've been able to transform AI into a valuable tool that works to my advantage.

Thanks Siddhant. So Lyla and Skyler, has AI affected your learning process so far, and if so, has it been good or bad?

I think it's been pretty neutral. AI isn't allowed in my school. It's actually blocked off of the school Wi-Fi, so we can't use it unless we use it at home. But it's viewed so natively, I do want to stay away from it. I've messed with it when it first came out. My dad just told me to like go on it and see kind of just what would happen if I asked it a question. But I'm just scared of the plagiarism and teachers are really, really good at catching kids, you know, use AI for homework, and I don't want to get caught up in that, so I just stay away.

Let's see, I've used AI for my learning experience, not usually for schoolwork, because it's too difficult and it's not allowed as well. Like I said, like you said, it was also banned in the school Wi-Fi. But I have used it in other cases because I'm writing my own stories. I have used it to help research. It'll get if it's with math and certain science aspects, because I'm a science fiction writer. It often will get certain parts wrong, it'll misremember. But I have used it to help summarize text for me and to give me just a general barebones version of the science that I'm trying to research. So in that way, yes, I have used it and I think it is quite helpful.

Thank you all for joining us today on Listen Up, the place to be to discuss life's big questions. We want to hear from you. Please email us at [email protected] and we hope to see you next time.