How to Guide Children in Using Generative AI

We visited Ayaho Shimizu, a fifth grader, who was working on her summer homework using a tablet.

Shimizu: 'We hardly get any paper homework.'

At Shimizu’s school, generative AI has been incorporated into classes. In a writing class, for instance:

Teacher Hideki Suzuki: 'Let's have AI write today.'

Students: 'Yay!!'

Students learn through trial and error, receiving hints from their teacher about how to give instructions to the AI for it to generate appropriate content.

However, for summer homework...

Shimizu: 'The teacher told us not to use AI at home.'

Shimizu’s mother: 'I feel secure knowing it's only used at school, but I wonder if it might affect their ability to think for themselves.'

Parents are concerned about the potential for AI to hinder their children’s independent thinking.

Last year, there was a reported case of generative AI being used in a reading essay competition.

However, developing tools to detect AI-generated Japanese text is still a work in progress.

Meanwhile, a middle school in Gifu Prefecture uses a type of generative AI that 'doesn't give answers.'

For example, in math problems, it provides hints on how to solve them rather than giving the solution directly, encouraging students to think for themselves. A student remarked:

Student: 'Just knowing the answer doesn't help me learn.'

Hideki Suzuki, a teacher at Shimizu’s school, shared his thoughts on balancing AI use:

Teacher Hideki Suzuki: 'It's important to teach students to discern when to do the work themselves and when to let AI handle it, so they can focus their energy where it's needed.'

Source: 日テレNEWS