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Computing // Artificial Intelligence

Identifying computers in everyday life — not just laptops but phones, tablets, smart speakers, traffic lights, washing machines; what makes something a computer

Computing // Artificial Intelligence

Spotting AI in daily life: face unlock on a phone, video recommendations, spelling auto-correct, automatic doors that detect people; technology that seems to…

Computing // Artificial Intelligence

What happens when you talk to Alexa, Siri, or Google Assistant; they listen, try to understand, look up answers; sometimes they get it wrong; they are tools…

Computing // Artificial Intelligence

Sorting objects into 'smart' (can sense and respond) and 'not smart' (just sits there); a toaster vs a smart speaker; introduction to the idea that some…

Computing // Artificial Intelligence

Step-by-step instructions for everyday tasks (making a sandwich, brushing teeth); that if instructions are wrong or missing, things go wrong; computers follow…

Computing // Artificial Intelligence

What a robot really is — not the sci-fi version; robots in factories, robot vacuum cleaners, robot arms in surgery; that robots follow instructions given by…

Computing // Artificial Intelligence

What data is: information that computers use — numbers, words, pictures, sounds; everything a computer knows comes from data that people give it

Computing // Artificial Intelligence

Humans are great at spotting patterns; computers can learn to spot patterns too, but they need lots of examples; sorting and classification activities as the…

Computing // Artificial Intelligence

How machine learning works at a conceptual level: show the computer many examples, it finds patterns, then it makes predictions about new things; hands-on…

Computing // Artificial Intelligence

Machines make mistakes; they only know what they've been shown; bad training data leads to bad results; AI is not magic — just maths on data; showing edge cases…

Computing // Artificial Intelligence

Comparing human and machine capabilities: creativity, empathy, common sense vs speed, memory, repetition; the Turing Test (simplified); what makes humans unique

Computing // Artificial Intelligence

How recommendation systems work: YouTube, Netflix, and shop websites track what you click and find patterns; filter bubbles; the difference between helpful…

Computing // Artificial Intelligence

How computer game characters 'decide' what to do; simple rule-based AI vs learning AI; NPCs, difficulty adjustment; AI as the opponent in chess or board games

Computing // Artificial Intelligence

What AI might do in 10 years; what we want it to do and what we're worried about; children as future designers and decision-makers about AI; hopeful, empowered…

Computing // Artificial Intelligence

AI needs huge amounts of energy and water to train; data centres and their environmental cost; but AI can also help — predicting weather, monitoring…

Computing // Artificial Intelligence

What data AI systems collect about you; who has it and why it matters; cookies, tracking, smart speakers always listening; your data is valuable

Computing // Artificial Intelligence

Whether AI should make important decisions about people: jobs, loans, justice; who is responsible when AI makes unfair decisions; introduction to algorithmic…

Computing // Artificial Intelligence

How AI is changing the world of work: some jobs disappear, new ones are created, many change; jobs AI can't do (yet); what skills matter in an AI world

Computing // Artificial Intelligence

Design thinking applied to AI ethics: if you were designing an AI system, what rules would you give it? Who should it help? What should it not be allowed to do?

Computing // Artificial Intelligence

If training data is biased, AI will be biased; examples: facial recognition working better for some skin tones, translation assuming gender; where bias comes…

Computing // Artificial Intelligence

Deepfakes, AI-generated images and text; how to spot them and why they matter; the importance of checking sources; not everything online is real