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Stop me if you’ve heard this before: Young children love bedtime stories. Some children like to reread the same story every night, and others, like my 3-year-old, like novelty. For him, there’s nothing like a surprise from a brand new book—thank goodness for libraries!—and if that wasn’t enough, he asks for one. according to will A story every night, especially according to him. Six months ago, completely out of the blue, he asked for a “chat story.”

“Do you want a gossip … story?” It was new.

“Chat story. From your phone,” said the little dictator.

“You want a story from my phone?” Raising a toddler is like living in a phone tree with no operator.

“Gossip. Story. On the phone. Type!”

Puzzled, I proceeded with a made-up story about the virtues of eating one’s entire dinner and called it a night. I made a note to ask her teacher the following week, and imagine my surprise when I learned that her teacher was experimenting with ChatGPT to create custom stories for the class. As do 14 percent of American adultsI had played with ChatGPT by then, but it was an interesting practical application. Bedtime turned into a wild version of Mad Libs: quickly state some noun or concept, pop it into a simple chat interface, pick a style (“in the style of the Berenstein Bears” worked well), and Look – what could go wrong with a perfectly serviceable bedtime story?

If you want to give it a shot, here’s my kid’s favorite prompt of all time: “Please write a three-year-old-appropriate bedtime story about the 2021 Suez Canal crisis, The Little Engine That Could in the manner of.” Yes, we have a weird sense of humor in this household.

Credit: Chet Gpt

But as chat GPT-generated stories lull my baby to sleep, I lay awake, wide-eyed, thinking about how conflicted I felt.

My first reaction was excitement. What an opportunity to get hands-on with a disruptive technology — and learn how to treat it as a supportive tool. At The Markup, we think a lot about what our expertise means is how we can ask better questions, and here I was at bedtime helping my child frame your question in different ways. How does giving get different answers? Consider this Prompt Engineering 101.

It also felt strangely familiar: I played with AOL, Homestead, and Altavista as a kid, and I credit that experience early in my career. If my child will graduate into a world surrounded by AI systems, why not gain familiarity and fluency early?

My bedtime adventures in ChatGPT are in good company. Arvind Narayanan, who we interviewed earlier this year for help. Decode the hype around AI., Set up a voice interface for ChatGPT with your 3-year-old. And observed some of the dangers surrounding chatbots, along with the learning potential for her daughter. According to Maryland-based child psychologist Cindy Graham, AI-generated stories are also a promising and cost-effective way to create content for children with autism. told HuffPost.

My enthusiasm was quickly tempered by pressing ethical concerns—particularly educational inequality, compensation for creative work, and environmental impact.

As schools Restriction, The ban is overand try to figure out how best to use creative AI, will zero-tolerance policies be weaponized against vulnerable students? Who will be scrutinized and policed, and who — like my son — will be encouraged to experiment and acquire AI literacy? We need to think hard about these dynamics, Especially in schools with pre-existing enforcement cultures.

It’s not lost on me that two-thirds of the world’s school-going children don’t even have Internet access at home. UNICEF Report 2020. As AI takes root in our lives, will it widen the gap between those who have access to such technology and others? Those who do not? Educational inequality is caused by unequal access to the Internet. Social and legislative responses to new technologies must now reflect this reality—not just that Nightmare scenarios.

Of course, there are also questions around training data for generative AI, which is exactly what enables you to ask a story in the style of Berenstain Bears or Hans Christian Andersen. Much of this training data was obtained, collected and used without explicit consent, drawing criticism. Artists like Molly Crabapple Those who fear that AI will be used to replace the creative craft. AI-generated books. Already flooding Amazon.They’re not exactly “goodnight moons” though Quality. Still, I want to live in a world where we continue to value and reward human creativity. (This issue is live. Ongoing WGA strikestoo.)

I also just want to be in the world, period. I’m writing this from the orange hell of New York City, where smoke from Canadian wildfires has me drinking as much water as I can—not the other way around. ChatGPT, which uses a 500 ml water bottle for a short conversation. About 20 to 50 questions and answers. Multiply that by ChatGPT’s huge user base, and the total watermark is huge. Mitigating this environmental impact feels urgent and yet curiously absent from the legislative debate around AI.

Surprisingly, privacy wasn’t a particular concern for me – only because I don’t make prompts with personal information or specific facts about my child’s life, which is also a practice I use to make her feel better. I speak clearly. Navigating privacy concerns here seems easier than it sounds. Ad-tech platforms that collect data..

Here’s the thing: There’s a rollercoaster of emotions surrounding disruptive technology. Exactly right. We must normalize the uncomfortable feeling when we apply our ethics to unfamiliar situations—and frankly, this is more realistic than reflexively accepting or rejecting any innovation. To help explore these issues, The Markup will host a Q&A with a variety of experts in and around AI, some with perspectives we agree with and others we disagree with. Want to challenge. (If there is a topic that interests you, reply to this email and let us know!)

In the meantime, I’m not giving up my library card.

Thanks for reading!

Nabiha Syed

Chief Executive Officer

Markup

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Credit: Twitter and Mastodon

Further reading:

PS If you enjoyed this exploration, stay tuned for an event in the fall titled “Back to School with Chat GPT.” In the meantime, here’s one A parenting guide that can be helpful..

by the Nabiha Syed

Also published. Here

Photo by Henley Design Studio But to open