Enhancing children’s understanding of algorithmic biases in and with text-to-image generative AI

Abstract

Despite the growing concerns surrounding algorithmic biases in generative AI (artificial intelligence), there is a noticeable lack of research on how to facilitate children and young people’s awareness and understanding of them. This study aimed to address this gap by conducting hands-on workshops with fourth- and seventh-grade students in Finland, and by focusing on students’ (N = 209) evolving explanations of the potential causes of algorithmic biases within text-to-image generative models. Statistically significant progress in children’s data-driven explanations was observed on a written reasoning test, which was administered prior to and after the intervention, as well as in their responses to the worksheets they filled out during a lesson that focused on algorithmic biases. The article concludes with a discussion on the development and facilitation of children’s understanding of algorithmic biases.