The new wonder technology of artificial intelligence (AI) – defined as technology that enables computers and machines to simulate human intelligence and problem-solving capabilities — has sparked hope and despair in equal measure. The world’s tech billionaires and gurus including Bill Gates, Mark Zuckerberg, Elon Musk and Sam Altman are engaged in a public slugfest over the upsides and downsides of this new miraculous technology. While Gates calls AI the most transformative technology ever, Musk has declared AI to be “far more dangerous than nukes”. World leaders have also jumped into the debate with US President Joe Biden and UK Prime Minister Rishi Sunak calling for strong government regulation of AI. Our own Prime Minister Narendra Modi has flagged “concerns on the negative use of AI” and that “India’s thinking is clear, we have to work together on global regulation of AI”.
But it’s not just tech and world leaders who are engaged in the big debate about the pros and cons of AI. This new-age tech disruptor, especially generative AI apps such as ChatGPT, Google Bard and BingChat, has sparked heated debates within the educators and parents’ communities about its possibly dangerous impact on children and youth. Since ChatGPT was launched a year ago, it has become the world’s most downloaded app with 180 million users.
A growing number of these downloads are by children accessing ChatGPT and its variants to churn out school essays/assignments and turning to virtual AI assistants for answers on academics, news events and entertainment choices. This growing dependence on AI has prompted fear about cheating, plagiarism, data theft and privacy invasion, exposure to child-inappropriate messaging and more alarmingly, AI chatbots reinforcing deeply rooted societal prejudices and biases.
In our cover story this month, we examine the opportunities and challenges of parenting in the AI age. We present abridged insights and guidelines of informed tech educators and parenting experts on the benefits and risks of parenting in the new digital age with special focus on the impact of this unprecedented technology on children. Parents are advised to encourage children to embrace the infinite knowledge and resources of the online world while teaching them to develop critical thinking skills to question the information and opinions provided by AI-powered chatbots and websites.
As always, there is more in every issue of PW. Check out the Early Childhood story on the importance of youngest children engaging in nature-based play for optimal sensory development, and informative Health feature on preventing mosquito-borne diseases. Also highly recommend the Special Essay by Craig Stanbury of Monash University, which poses a very pertinent question: What makes a good parent in this day of looming environmental disaster and climate change? Do parents have to do more than provide love, support and engaging bedtime stories?
