Dr Asha Pemberton
teenhealth.tt@gmail.com
Artificial Intelligence (AI) is a rapidly growing technology that is increasingly present in our lives. AI is used in many ways, from voice recognition on telephone banking services to self-driving cars. With this rapid growth, there is an ever-increasing interest in how AI could impact the future of our teenagers. AI has the potential to bring about a new era of opportunities for our youth, but there are also potential threats to be considered. It is useful to explore the potential benefits and risks of AI technology as they relate to our adolescents so that parents and educators can make informed decisions about how to best prepare their teens.
The definition
The first step towards understanding the potential impacts of AI is to understand the technology itself. Artificial intelligence is a technology that allows computer systems to 'think' and solve problems in the same way (or similar) that humans do. The thinking is really a process of algorithms that are finely tuned to explore many, many possible outcomes yet provide the one that would be most like human thought.
Artificial intelligence follows a set of instructions called a 'code' and then constantly refines and improves it over time. It takes in data, makes predictions, and adjusts the code if necessary. In fact, it is the very interaction with humans that makes AI more powerful.
As an example, the more time we spend on specific social media pages or content, we 'teach' our apps that these are the things we enjoy. In turn, more is presented to us. We often think that our phones are listening to us, but more than that, the AI is learning from us and tailoring the advertisements, Instagram suggestions and YouTube content to our habits.
Education
One of the most significant impacts of AI technology on teenagers is its potential to improve their academic performance. AI can provide personalised learning and create tailored study plans based on individual needs. It can also be used to create interactive textbooks and visualisation tools that help understanding.
However, there are also some risks. There are several popular AI platforms that can literally do the work for students. By simply keying in a few words, there is the ability to generate an essay, projects and even an entire thesis dissertation. This raises the issues of cheating, plagiarism and loss of actual learning, since young people do absolutely none of the research or writing. So while on one hand, AI can provide more content for teenagers to learn and tailor content to their learning style, it can equally remove any element of learning through use. A slippery slope.
Health
Within the domain of health and well-being, AI-driven applications are being designed and deployed to address health care concerns for young people - particularly in the context of mental and behavioural health. It is possible to enter information on symptoms and emotions and the bot then form a diagnosis and provide treatment suggestions.
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