Is it a good idea to let a 16 yrs old use an AI assistant .i.e. chatgpt?

wathek , 4 months ago (edited 4 months ago)

ChatGPT is overly safe in terms of personality and the worldview it presents when asked. it’s a great tool to learn, more so than a teacher because you can freely ask it very specific questions in your own words and it will give an understandable answer. I think it’s actually a perfect tool for someone that age. Once the topics get too advanced, the results become less reliable though.

It doesnt make things up anymore as much as it used to. It still does sometimes with topics that are less commonly discussed in the dataset it’s trained on (this is similar with websearch). It will however confidently claim that it’s answer is correct sometimes. As long as you understand that it’s not always correct and have the sense to verify things that seem off, you’ll be fine.

You’ll get the best results from the paid GPT4 subscription (20 dollars a month), which i would recommend.

The only real risk i see is overreliance on it. I notice this in myself too, it’s almost like i forgot googling things is an option, so when i’m stuck rather than trying another approaxh, i just keep throwing prompts at GPT-4 until i give up and find the solution elsewhere, often within minutes. The way things are going, classic web search is becoming obsolete (unreliable result because of AI written content and fake news) while AI actively tries to be unbiased.

tldr: Yes, it’s extremely useful, make sure they don’t forget how to do things without chatgpt too.

InputZero , 4 months ago

I don’t think there will be any change in personality or cognition just by using ChatGPT. The only concern I can think of is over reliance. Especially if your child intends to goto post secondary school. Universities are very strict regarding plagiarism and view AI generation as such. If they can use it responsibly there no downside, if they’re going to use it to start to do their homework for them it’ll be a problem.

fratermus , 4 months ago

Like any other automated tool, I’d want them to master the manual skills first.

With math and calculators first we show we can do it longhand then get the calc. Show you can search and assess sources first then incorporate AI.

Omega_Haxors , 4 months ago

Treat it like a calculator that has a 75% chance of giving the wrong answer.

CanadaPlus , 4 months ago

At 16 they should be just as capable of understanding the limitations as anyone. Just be sure to explain that it has no interest in truth, but only writing convincingly.

I doubt it will have personality impacts. The one thing that could be an issue is if they use it as a replacement for real human friends.

theywilleatthestars , 4 months ago

For fun? It’s probably fine. As a substitute for human interaction and learning? No, no one should use chatgpt that way

driving_crooner , 4 months ago

I use ChatGPT for help in my MBA in actuarial sciences everyday. I always start with “pretend you are an statistics/probability/finances professor and I’m and advanced student. We are working on {topic} and I need help with {thing I didn’t fully understood in class}” l. It have been fantastic. Even fkg Terence Tao is using ChatGPT as help in the most advanced mathematics is out there.