How to Raise Kids Who Question AI | Randi Williams  🔗 **Source:** [How to Raise Kids Who Question AI | Randi Williams](https://share.snipd.com/episode/4e4f4605-cc37-400e-a097-1ec21e61150c) ## Highlights - **Hidden Interfaces Make AI Seem Magical** - Modern AI has been "bake-lighted" into frictionless interfaces that hide how it works. - Randi Williams compares this to radios becoming sleek bakelite, which removed visible machinery and reduced transparency. Transcript: Randi Williams In the 1940s, the radio was a transformative technology. But it wasn't an immediate hit. That's because the radios of the early 1900s looked like unwieldy contraptions of exposed wires and glowing vacuum tubes, like a science fair project gone wrong. And it wasn't until 1929, when radios started to look like sleek bakelite, that's a kind of plastic, that they became insanely popular. But at a critical cost. Transparency. What happens when technology becomes a black box and we stop being able to see what's going on inside? Fast forward 100 years. Today, the sci-fi artificial intelligence devices of our dreams have been woven into the very fabric of modern life. But like the radio, these systems are bake-lighted. ([Time 0:04:28](https://share.snipd.com/snip/272818a7-51a7-4257-ba49-34e8386030b3)) - **Kindergartner Calls Alexa Her Best Friend** - A kindergartner dismissed Randi Williams' MIT robot because she already had an Alexa she called her best friend. - The girl confidently demonstrated familiarity with voice tech, showing kids can treat devices as social companions early on. Transcript: Randi Williams So one day I come into the study room and I say, hi, my name is Randy, this is Teiga. You're going to read some stories with Teiga today. Let me show you how it works. And the girl I was working with, a kindergartner, stops me. No thanks, she says. I know all about robots. I have an Alexa at home, and she's my best friend. Watch this. And then she proceeded to show me how my robot worked. What do we make of a response like that? Well, first, I thought it was kind of impressive that this girl, who again, was learning how to read, could effortlessly navigate the internet thanks to voice technology. And for context, I had to know how to read, write, and type before I could ask Jeeves a question. But for her, not so much. But secondly, I was a little bit disappointed that this girl didn't think that my super cool robot was so super cool. And when I took a step back, I realized it wasn't just her. We are raising a generation of children who are growing up with AI and smart toys. And they tend to see these devices not as virtual assistants or technology, but as friends. Distinct beings with a mind, a will, and a soul. ([Time 0:07:01](https://share.snipd.com/snip/3efdceec-73fc-4289-be10-82812010acaa)) - **Kids Anthropomorphize And Retry Devices** - Children often anthropomorphize smart devices and will try multiple devices when one fails. - In Williams' study a child tried a second Alexa after the first said it couldn't help with a question about sloths. Transcript: Randi Williams We had toy robots, talking dolls, text-based chatbots, and of course, plenty of virtual assistants like Alexa and Google Home. One of the girls in the study, her favorite animal, they were slots. She loved slots. She'd been telling us all day how much she loved slots. And so naturally, when she got hold of an Alexa, she wanted to learn more about sloths from Alexa. So she picks up Alexa and says, Alexa, what do sloths eat? And then Alexa very helpfully replied, I'm sorry, I don't know how to help you with that. The girl looked disappointed for a second, and then all of a sudden perked right back up. Oh, I know, she says, and she picked up a second Alexa. I'll see if this one knows. ([Time 0:08:31](https://share.snipd.com/snip/81af993a-86fe-463b-b803-f65975831cb2)) - **Smart Toys Open A Digital Door Into Childhood** - Smart toys act as digital doors into children's bedrooms, playtime, and emotions, creating opportunities for manipulation. - Williams warns toys designed to be endlessly engaging can monetize trust via ads or subscriptions. Transcript: Randi Williams And for me personally, even the devices that are marketed as educational or screen-free are still corrupt because they're consumer products. And they seem to be designed as something that can be endlessly engaging or addictive. They want to become your child's best friend and gain their trust so that they can advertise to them. Or better yet, sell that trust back to you for $20 a month. The bottom line is that smart toys open a digital door into children's playtime, bedroom, and hearts. ([Time 0:09:35](https://share.snipd.com/snip/c1352a44-fef0-419a-bff2-80cb5464f4b7)) - **Play Is How Kids Probe AI Limits** - Play is how children probe and understand AI; they ask absurd questions to test limits. - Examples include kids asking Alexa 'how old are you?' or 'is it okay if I eat you?' to explore machine nature. Transcript: Randi Williams Kids are natural reverse engineers. Over and over again, I've watched children playing with AI devices, trying to break it, just asking seemingly absurd questions like, Alexa, how old are you? Or Cosmo, which is a toy robot car, can you jump? Or, hey Google, is it okay if I eat you? And these questions, while silly, also are an example of children probing the machine about its very nature. ([Time 0:10:26](https://share.snipd.com/snip/b6cb367a-da80-4d63-a7de-3b87837fea63)) - **PopBot Lego Robot Teaches Kids To Rewrite Rules** - Williams built PopBot from Lego to expose AI mechanics and teach concepts like machine learning through rock paper scissors. - She encouraged a boy to teach PopBot wrong rules so he'd win, prompting a talk about who writes AI rules. Transcript: Randi Williams That was the idea behind another social robot that I worked on, Pop-Bot. Pop-Bot's body is made completely out of Lego bricks, and it's kind of like a typical smart toy, except I built it to make the most complex ideas of modern AI, logical reasoning, machine Learning, generative AI, easy to understand through hands-on, child-driven play. The idea was, if a four-year could understand AI, then anyone can. So for example, to learn about machine learning, what children would do is they would play rock, paper, scissors against the robot. Before children could start playing against their PopBot, first they had to teach their PopBot the rules of rock, paper, scissors. And then, as they played the game over and over again, what PopBot would try to do is pick up on their pattern so they could predict what move it could play to beat them. And if you're between the ages of four and six, pretty soon it gets hard, if not impossible, to beat your pop bot. There was one boy who was very frustrated by this. And so I planted a mischievous idea in his head. I said, well, what if you taught your pop bot the wrong rules of rock, paper, scissors? That way, as you played it, you would win every single time. And he really liked that idea. ([Time 0:11:17](https://share.snipd.com/snip/5241e846-394e-4d26-8bc1-80858780b996)) - **Model Curious Use Of AI At Home** - Teach children to be curious users of AI by sitting with them, exploring machines and poking at limits. - Williams recommends modeling questioning behavior at home: ask why an AI answered and who wrote its rules. Transcript: Randi Williams And this work, you know, starts at the dinner table. So you're all sitting down, and a question gets asked to the nearest AI chatbot or smart toy. When it responds, rather than just accepting that answer, wonder, I wonder why it answered the way it did. Or ask aloud, do we agree or disagree with that answer? Who do we think wrote the rules to make it work the way that it does? And the thing is, you don't need to know the answers to all these questions or become some sort of AI expert. That's not the point. What children need is a model of what it means to be a curious user of AI. ([Time 0:13:35](https://share.snipd.com/snip/20248b71-c601-422f-9a19-5cf2e91d36e6)) - **AI Literacy As A Right To Shape Systems** - The broader goal is a world where no one is left in the dark by technology and everyone can shape systems. - Williams frames AI literacy as a right: people should be able to play a part in shaping technologies that shape lives. Transcript: Randi Williams About this a lot in the context of what's happening in children's toy boxes, but the bigger picture is that we should all be treating the everyday AI systems that we interact with the Same way. I 100% believe that we can help children build safer relationships with their smart toys, and we all need to build better relationships between ourselves and the technologies we interact With every day. I believe in a world where no one is left in the dark by technology and where everyone has the inherent right to play a part in shaping the systems that shape our lives. ([Time 0:14:28](https://share.snipd.com/snip/c206cb56-c399-47f4-9b1b-cd8baaa6dd04)) - **Stay Present Instead Of Banning Screens** - Don't leave children alone to navigate AI; accompany them and shape how they interact based on family values. - Williams emphasizes rules are useful but modeling interaction and human wisdom matters more than strict bans. Transcript: Randi Williams No, I really love that question. I think first because it gives so much grace to the fact that parenting is hard and there are a lot of challenges. I think in the world of artificial intelligence, something I think a lot about is human wisdom, right? And we've actually been kind of struggling with this problem for a long time. There were books and then the radio and then TV and then the internet, and now it's artificial intelligence. And I think the advice from then still rings true now, which is don't leave children on their own to figure it out. Rules are great, but better is to help your child learn how to interact with them in a way that works with your family's values and the ways that you want to engage in the world. ([Time 0:15:52](https://share.snipd.com/snip/242fac88-d413-45ce-bb4e-4550b57c7788)) - **Curator Chose Williams For Her Radio Analogy** - Curator Chloe Shasha Brooks chose Williams because she studies AI embedded in toys and shows both risks and charming child questions. - Chloe highlights Williams' calm delivery and the radio analogy that clarified the "black box" problem for listeners. Transcript: Speaker 3 Hi, thanks for listening to Randy Williams' talk. I'm Chloe Shasha Brooks, speaking to you from New York City. One of those on-the but important talk topics for a play-themed event is toys. After looking into toy designers, toy reviewers, and toy futurists, I had another thought. What about someone who is thinking about the way artificial intelligence is embedded into toys? Someone who has studied how children interact with AI and can advise all of us listeners on how to think about this exponentially evolving technology in the hands of our children. She has this calmness while talking about a very serious subject. She's able to highlight the dangers that are real risks of a child connecting with an AI toy as though it is their caregiver or friend, while also sharing really adorable stories about Children's questions about AI that illustrate their understandable confusion around whether it is a conscious being or not. One of the ideas that she shared with me on our first exploratory call that made me think she was right for this Play at Ted event was the analogy she shared early on in her talk that you just Heard about the radio. That it used to be this giant clunky object with tubes and movable parts that clearly looked like a machine, which meant that people didn't forget that it was a machine and that it was Not a real person speaking to them in their house. ([Time 0:17:21](https://share.snipd.com/snip/789686ad-c93b-45d4-8cff-b88895126496))