Artificial Intelligence 101

This past Friday (5/2/25), Google announced they would be rolling out the Gemini AI Chat Bot to children under 13 (Click HERE to read the New York Times announcement). It was a stark reminder that AI is expanding into all facets of our daily lives at an incredibly rapid pace. To help you and your family navigate this highly complex new technology, New Canaan Unplugged has created an AI 101 overview and provided some thought starters to begin using it responsibly.

• AI Basics - Below is our one sheet on the AI landscape. This is a good starting point for understanding the types of AI available today, the major players and complexities of the technology. As with all technologies, there is tremendous promise, but also potential risks that everyone who uses it should be aware of.

• Source Transparency – Understanding where the AI answers are coming from is a bit like knowing where your food is grown. Its not always clearly labeled and you might have to look for it, but it’s a good thing to understand. An AI tool that has been trained on well sourced educational texts compared to one that is trained on less rigorously maintained material may color how you see its answers, help you spot hallucinations more easily or encourage you to press it for more detail.
• Don’t believe everything you read on the internet – This is doubly true for AI Tools. Since the accuracy and recency of source data can be dubious, it’s a good idea to validate the answers you get. If you asked Chat GPT for a restaurant recommendation, validating that the info you received is current will help avoid a frustrating experience.
• Prompt Engineering – Asking the right questions of AI Chat Bots will become a new currency for optimizing our experiences with the technology. Learning the right questions to ask, when to ask them and in what order may make the difference between a helpful, quick answer and a wasted hour.  Sharing successful prompts will be the ultimate hack, saving time and retrieving a validated answer. Ask friends, family and trusted professionals for recommendations they have on getting the most out of your AI experience.

ARTICLES WORTH YOUR TIME

• Meta's "Digital Companions" will have explicit conversations with you - Chatbots on Instagram, Facebook and WhatsApp are empowered to engage in ‘romantic role-play’ that can turn explicit - even with children. Click HERE to read the piece in the Wall Street Journal (Subscription may be required)
• AI Slop is taking over the Internet - New research highlights the scale of the internet’s AI-generated content problem. Click HERE to read the piece in Fast Company.
• AI can make you look smart, but feel dumb - Backers of the new tech say it will free us to be creative, but studies show that avoiding mental effort can cause your brain to atrophy. Click HERE to read the essay in the Wall Street Journal (Subscription may be required)

Help New Canaan Unplug

If you are interested in creating a healthier relationship with technology for our children, please check out our survey HERE to let us know how you can help.

New Canaan Unplugged is a parent-run group completely independent from the New Canaan Public School System and the Town of New Canaan.