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In the Black Mirror: Youth Investigations into Artificial Intelligence

Published: 29 October 2022 Publication History

Abstract

Over the past two decades, innovations powered by artificial intelligence (AI) have extended into nearly all facets of human experience. Our ethnographic research suggests that while young people sense they can't “trust” AI, many are not sure how it works or how much control they have over its growing role in their lives. In this study, we attempt to answer the following questions: (1) What can we learn about young people's understanding of AI when they produce media with and about it? and (2) What are the design features of an ethics-centered pedagogy that promotes STEM engagement via AI? To answer these questions, we co-developed and documented three projects at YR Media, a national network of youth journalists and artists who create multimedia for public distribution. Participants are predominantly youth of color and those contending with economic and other barriers to full participation in STEM fields. Findings showed that by creating a learning ecology that centered the cultures and experiences of its learners while leveraging familiar tools for critical analysis, youth deepened their understanding of AI. Our study also showed that providing opportunities for youth to produce ethics-centered interactive stories interrogating invisibilized AI functionalities, and to release those stories to the public, empowered them to creatively express their understandings and apprehensions about AI.

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  1. In the Black Mirror: Youth Investigations into Artificial Intelligence

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    Published In

    cover image ACM Transactions on Computing Education
    ACM Transactions on Computing Education  Volume 22, Issue 3
    September 2022
    393 pages
    EISSN:1946-6226
    DOI:10.1145/3542931
    • Editor:
    • Amy J. Ko
    Issue’s Table of Contents

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    Association for Computing Machinery

    New York, NY, United States

    Publication History

    Published: 29 October 2022
    Online AM: 18 April 2022
    Accepted: 30 August 2021
    Revised: 16 July 2021
    Received: 09 July 2020
    Published in TOCE Volume 22, Issue 3

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    Author Tags

    1. Critical pedagogy
    2. artificial intelligence
    3. ethics-centered
    4. engagement
    5. agency
    6. computational thinking
    7. machine learning
    8. media

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    • Artificial Intelligence and DRL

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