Overview
This lesson plan is about how talking to computer programs, called AI chatbots, can affect our idea of friendship. AI chatbots are programs that use artificial intelligence (AI) to respond to what you say in real time, like a person. Sometimes, people can feel close to AI chatbots and think of them as friends. But is this good or bad? In this lesson, you will think about what makes a good friend and how human friendships are different from AI chatbots. You will also try to talk to some AI chatbots and see how they make you feel.
NB Curricular Connections
Technology 6-8
- Strand: Information Technology Skills – Big Idea: Computational Practice
Technology 9
- Strand: Information Technology Skills – Big Idea: Computational Practice
Computer Science 110
- Strand: Computation Thinking – Big Idea: Decomposition; Pattern Recognition; Abstraction; Algorithms
- Strand: Coding – Big Idea: Planning and Documentation; Software; Data
What You’ll Need
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Am AI Your Friend?
Instructions
- Watch the video What Are AI Chatbots? to learn what they are and how they work.
- Discuss with your classmates why AI chatbots are designed to sound like people and how that can be helpful or harmful.
- Choose one of the AI chatbots from the handout and try to have a conversation with it. Pay attention to how it responds to you and what it tries to do.
- Write a reflection on your experience with the AI chatbot. What did you learn? What surprised you? What did you like or dislike? How did you feel?
Reflection Activity
Please see the attached PDF for several choices on how you and your learners can reflect upon today’s activity.
