What is AI?

Artificial Intelligence, or AI, is like a virtual assistant who can learn and solve problems. Just as students learn from their teachers and experiences, AI systems learn from the information we give them. They can help us with many tasks, from suggesting what movie to watch next to helping scientists make important discoveries.

In Prince George's County Public Schools, we believe in teaching about AI so our stakeholders can understand this technology that is becoming more common in our daily lives. We believe in the importance of knowing how to use AI tools responsibly while developing critical thinking and creativity.

Why is it important to understand generative artificial intelligence (AI) in an educational environment?

Understanding generative AI is crucial for parents, teachers, and anyone working with children because it deeply impacts their education, social development, and safety.

By grasping how generative AI works, adults can help children use it as a powerful tool to enhance learning rather than simply a way to get easy answers. This includes teaching them to think critically and solve problems instead of relying on AI to do the work for them.

Additionally, understanding this technology allows adults to protect children from its risks, such as misinformation, data privacy issues, and the creation of harmful content. It also helps them guide children in developing healthy social skills and a responsible approach to technology in an increasingly AI-driven world.

AI Vocabulary - Terms to Know

Algorithm

An algorithm is a set of instructions or rules followed by a computer program. These rules tell the computer to solve a specific problem or perform a task such as recommending content on social media. AI systems use algorithms to process and analyse data.

Bias

In general terms, bias is a prejudice in favour of or against something — sometimes without knowing. It can lead to issues like online hate.

With AI, bias refers to the unfair or unequal impact of some AI systems on specific groups of people. This is due to data or design that provides biased information to the AI.

Chatbot

AI tools that can chat with you, answer questions, and help find information. Teens often use them to get quick answers for schoolwork or solve problems.

Ethics

Ethics in AI are the moral rules and guidelines for responsible artificial intelligence. It’s all about treating everyone equally, keeping information private, and being honest. Furthermore, those creating AI tools must use AI ethically and take responsibility for any mistakes.

Generative AI

Generative AI is a type of artificial intelligence that creates original content—like writing stories, generating artwork, or composing music—based on the data it's learned from. Popular gen AI tools that teens are already using include ChatGPT, Google's Gemini, and Snapchat's My AI, which produce text responses, while Midjourney and DALL-E create images based on your descriptions.

Large Language Models (LLM)

AI systems, like ChatGPT, Google's Gemini, and Claude, that can analyze and create human-like text based on patterns learned from huge amounts of data.

Natural Language Processing

NLP stands for Natural Language Processing. It is a branch of AI that focuses on helping computers to understand, interpret and generate human language. NLP is used in applications like voice recognition (such as Alexa), chatbots (like My AI) and language translation (like Google Translate).

Machine Learning

Machine learning is a part of AI that focuses on helping machines to learn and improve from experience without being programmed. It involves algorithms that analyse data and make predictions or decisions.

Output

Describes the text, images, video, or other materials you receive from a generative AI tool

Prompt

The information, sentences, or questions that you enter into a generative AI tool, which influences the quality of outputs you receive. After you enter a prompt, the AI model analyzes your input and generates a response (output) based on the patterns it has learned through its training data.