Scott J Mulligan, Kids are learning how to make their own little language models, MIT Technology Review, October 25, 2024.
"This new AI technology-it's very interesting to learn how it works and understand it more," says 10-year-old Luca, a young AI model maker.
Luca is one of the first kids to try Little Language Models, a new application from Manuj and Shruti Dhariwal, two PhD researchers at MIT's Media Lab, that helps children understand how AI models work-by getting to build small-scale versions themselves.
The program is a way to introduce the complex concepts that make modern AI models work without droning on about them in a theoretical lecture. Instead, kids can see and build a visualization of the concepts in practice, which helps them get to grips with them. [...]
They plan for the tool to be used around the world. Students will be able to upload their own data, monitored by their teacher. "[Students] can also add their own sounds, images, and backdrops that represent their culture," says Manuj.
The Dhariwals have also implemented a tool where kids can play around with more advanced concepts like Markov chains, where a preceding variable influences what comes after it. For example, a child could build an AI that creates random houses made from Lego bricks. The child can dictate that if the AI uses a red brick first, the percentage of yellow brick coming next is set much higher.
There's more at the link.
