Randi Williams

That said, with some intentional choices on the parts of adults, we can help children see the technology for what it really is, objects that they can play with or even program, rather than entities that they should look to for all the answers.

My journey exploring kids and their relationships with AI began early in my days at MIT, working on this fluffy, adorable social robot, Tega.

So Tega being a social robot means that its goal is to help people with their goals.

Social robots are used throughout healthcare, customer service and education.

In Tega's case, we were building it to see if a robot could help young children as they were learning how to read.

It's Tega's job to keep the child engaged in the story.

Tega will ask questions, add funny commentary, and of course, weave in that target vocabulary for the week.

and it was my job to introduce Tega and get children oriented to how to use it.

So one day, I come into the study room, and I say, Hi, my name is Randi.

This is Tega.

You're going to read some stories with Tega 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.