This one is a bit of an old news, nearly two weeks past now but I wanted to discuss it regardless because I just bumped into it on an anti-ai subreddit.
Before I quote the report, the reason for this post is to address the cognitive concerns associated with AI use by children. I believe it's a critical situation and avoidance can prove disastrous.
Here's an excerpt from Theguardian
New York City will ban students’ use of artificial intelligence in public schools through eighth grade, typically age 13 or 14. The prohibition is scheduled to be announced on Wednesday and will go into effect next week.
The change is part of a sweeping overhaul of the use of technology in the US’s largest school district, which enrolls roughly 900,000 students a year. In another policy shift, classrooms will keep students off laptops or tablets through the third grade, age nine or 10. The city’s public school technology policies are closely watched by the rest of the United States.
Teachers and parents have warned against the use of AI instructional software in schools over concerns about harming children’s mental health and cognitive development, in particular an abdication of reasoning to software, a phenomenon researchers have dubbed “cognitive surrender”, as well as environmental damage.
Addressing the concerns
I believe, strongly, that the concerns are valid. No child should have access to a chatbot that almost always agrees with everything a user sends.
Besides this, the risks of slowing cognitive development is also valid. We already have enough factors hindering people's ability to learn, think and develop problem-solving abilities.
Generative AI access from a young age would most likely turn kids into lazy consumers that never learn or build anything.
It's commendable, the steps being taken because for a technology as advanced as AI to be appropriately leveraged, the population it should serve must be intelligent to begin with.
After all, if humans lack general intelligence, the race towards AGI loses its meaning.
That said, I think it's also crucial to point out that this ban doesn't limit general use of AI, just generative AI chatbots.
Children can and likely will still interact with AI in various forms. So it will take more than a ban to ensure that children grow and develop healthily, all round.
Ironically, in some cases, the use of AI could be relevant, but this has to be supervised by qualified professionals.
The point being driven home here is that the key to secure the best future for all of us is implementation of several moving parts of developments, regulation and individual initiatives.
Posted Using INLEO
