Your Brain Still Matters + Season 3 Recap and Finale (Kids, parents, & teachers)

AI can feel like magic until you look closer and realize it’s built on choices, data, and a whole lot of guessing. For our Season 3 finale of AI for Kids, we pull together the biggest takeaways from the season and turn them into simple, usable rules kids can remember and grown-ups can support at home, in libraries, and in classrooms. The bottom line stays the same: you don’t have to fear artificial intelligence, but you do have to think, pause, and stay curious.

We talk about what AI literacy for kids really means beyond “typing a good prompt.” It’s the habit of asking better questions: Did this help me learn or just hand me an answer? Does it sound true or do I need to verify it? We also revisit why data literacy matters so much, with everyday examples like checking the weather, budgeting money, and forecasting toward a goal. Those small moments teach kids how to reason with information, which is exactly what they need when they face AI hype, viral screenshots, or content that might be misinformation.

Then we get real about safety and boundaries. We unpack why human-like chatbots and character AI can be unhealthy when kids start treating a word generator like a person, and why “easy” is often a warning sign for sloppy or wrong. We also explore AI toys and hyper-personalization, including how a talking toy that follows one interest can shrink imagination instead of expanding it. For parents and teachers, we share a practical “parent in the loop” mindset: define the goal, choose tools built for kids and stay involved as the tech changes.

If this season helped your family, subscribe, share the show with a friend, and leave a review so more parents, teachers, and caregivers can find it. What’s one AI rule you want kids to remember this summer?

Transcript

Season Lessons And AI Literacy

Amber Ivey 0:00

Hey friends, welcome back to AI for kids. And guess what? We made it to the end of the season. Yes, season three is over, and we've talked about a lot of big ideas. As you all go into the summer, I want you all just to think about what you learn. We've talked about prompts and how the words you type into AI can change what you get back. We talked about whether a robot can really be your study buddy. We talked about chatbots, talking toys, AI friends, which we all agree we don't have AI friends, right? And why it's important to remember that AI can sound friendly without actually being your friend. We talked about how the internet is always trying to get your attention, how to spot AI hype or slop, what slop is, what AI hype is, and how to think like a data detective when you see something online that makes you wonder wait, is this real? Huh? And one of the biggest lessons from this season is this you do not have to be scared of AI, but you do need to think. AI can help you learn, create and ask questions and explore new ideas with the parent or teacher, but it should not do all of your thinking for you. Your brain still matters. Your questions still matter. Your creativity still matters. Your judgment still matters. So when you use AI, if you're allowed to with the parent or teacher, I want you to keep asking things like, did this help me learn? Or did it just give me an answer? Does it sound true? Or do I need to check it? Is this helping my brain get stronger? Am I letting the tool do too much? That is what AI literacy really means. It's not just learning how to use a chatbot or type a good prompt. It is learning how to slow down, pay attention, ask better questions, and decide what you think first. And for the grown-ups listening, parents, teachers, librarians, aunties, uncles, and caregivers, and everyone in between, thank you for helping kids have these conversations early. Kids do not need us to pretend AI is not here. They need us to help them understand it. And many of them should not be using it. And we're in total agreement with that. But when they do get to the point in life that they are using it, we want to make sure they know how to question it. They know what it is, they know how to handle this very new technology. The podcast is now two years old. We have more than 15,000 downloads. That means kids and grown-ups are listening in their cars, classrooms, kitchens, libraries, and probably while somebody is supposed to be cleaning their room. So thank you. Thank you for listening, sharing, learning, and asking questions with me. Before we head into summer, let's look back at some of the moments from this season. You're also this data and AI, like chief data and AI officer. How do data and AI come into play? Like, why does data matter when it comes to AI?

SPEAKER_05 2:43

So data is the foundation. I'm glad you asked that. I was in conversations with people about this today, and I think it's it's interesting to see people want to jump straight to artificial intelligence. Like it's this fun, cool thing you want to see. It's almost like playing a video game. Like you want to play the video game, but you don't want to do all the work to build everything to make the video game actually what it is. And data is

Data Is The Real Starting Point

SPEAKER_05 3:03

that foundation, it is the initial foundation for everything that we do. The reason that data is so important for me and so important for kids to learn and understand some of the practices that I do with William is data is part of your everyday life. Like every decision that you make, you are consuming data and then making decisions whether you are intentionally doing it or not. So one of the neat things that we do here at the house with William is like William has to get up in the mornings. He has a Alexa in his room, and hopefully it doesn't go off right now. I am in his room. He has to ask Alexa, what's the weather today? What is the weather forecast going to be this week? And it helps him determine what clothes to pick out and what to wear. And does he need to take a raincoat, et cetera? And also the same with money. So William has his own bank account. He manages his own money. When he wants to buy things, we are leveraging data and he's going, okay, this particular thing that I want to buy costs $10. These are all the chores of things that I need to do. And he predicts out, okay, this is how long it's going to take me to get it. So I will tell you, Will had a big buy. He wants to buy a VR headset this year. And I very well could have just swiped my card and bought him a VR headset, but it would not have taught him anything and he wouldn't have probably valued it as much. So we we actually went online, we looked at the different VR headset options. He mapped out like which one he wanted. He knows how much it's going to cost. And Will has been saving all year to be able to purchase this headset. Then he's checking his bank account and his card. He's like, okay, I got this much money this week. And okay, if I save this, okay, I got enough money to set aside to be able to get snacks. And if I stay with this amount of money each week, I'll be able to buy it by December. And believe it or not, he started this in January. And in December, he's still on track to be able to go purchase that VR headset for staff. Now I don't know if I'm gonna let him buy it. I think he's a little younger. But he is like very good again managing and taking in data, predicting, you name it, forecasting out what it is that he needs. And it's just been phenomenal for him to see. He's also like less likely to spend his money. So again, for with me, he'll just spend it. But now he's like, Well, I gotta save money to buy this VR headset and these other things that he has listed out. And it's just neat to see him budget. And they understand. So I don't think kids are too young to be able to make these decisions. Same way with recipes, if you like to cook. So I started teaching William, I'm Southern, started teaching William how to cook at three years old, and we started learning about measurements and what type of seasons, you know, and give you which flavors and you name it. So they're not too young. They're again leveraging data every day, whether they know it or not.

Amber Ivey 5:44

Well, say I'm in school and I see a post or video or screenshot that everybody is sharing, that we're all scrolling past and we're all engaging. Now we're sending it in group chat and all the things that we do when we see something. It looks real, but I'm not totally sure. What should I do before I believe it or continue to share it?

SPEAKER_02 6:03

You should be critical and skeptical of everything you see, full stop, period.

Amber Ivey 6:09

Especially today.

SPEAKER_02 6:10

Especially today. However, there's so much nuance here that is hard

Pause Before You Share Anything

SPEAKER_02 6:15

for everyone, including adults. Sometimes there are things that I interact with on the internet where the stakes are so low. Let's just say memes, right? A silly meme with an image from who knows where that was photographed by who knows who, with some text on it that is just so relatable, and you send it to your friend, and it's so funny. The stakes of that doesn't affect, you know, the news, doesn't affect my health, doesn't affect truth and ethics in the wider world. I'm just sending a meme to my friends because it's super funny. And I think in that context, you can just be like, hey, this is fun. I'm sharing it and it's it's going around and it's viral and we're all being silly. And that and the internet should be fun. But that line gets super fuzzy really quick because now you get into is it a picture of an actual person? Is it a person you know? Has that picture been manipulated either through photo editing tools and now through uh generative AI? And is that ethical? Was the AI trained on thousands of copyrighted images that never got paid or credited? And now we're making memes with tools that have been unethically trained. For listeners, these are questions for Amber and I to worry about and solve. Amber and I are working on this, and we will be saving the world from all of this. Yeah, I would say in about six months. But for you, I would stress that you should be cautious and think critically about it.

Amber Ivey 7:55

Yeah, and I think one thing I like to tell kids too, and it's making me remember it as you're talking, it's like you made like the ah sound and you show the face of like the film you feel when you feel like something's wrong. We all have like that gut feeling, that intuition, like right before we're either about to do something or make a decision that it's like a voice that says stop for a second. When you hear that voice, that's when I pause and say, Hey, this is something we need to think about in a different way, because if it's making me feel icky, there may be something wrong here. And my neurons, my brain, and my body is feeling something or seeing something that I may not recognize at first, and it's giving me that pause. So as you're engaging with this stuff, if you feel the icky feeling, don't share it and don't go forward. In your mind, before I head over to Tom, what's one headline or promise about AI that you want kids to question or think twice about?

SPEAKER_09 8:49

So I think there are many, many services that talk about making things easy. And they're trying to appeal to kids by saying, Oh, are you stuck on something? Well, here's an easy way to get an answer. And what I want kids to start doing, if you see the word easy, remember it often means sloppy or wrong. It's a simple replacement.

When Easy Means Sloppy Or Wrong

SPEAKER_09 9:10

Whenever you see easy, insert sloppy or wrong.

Amber Ivey 9:14

I love that. Tom, any thoughts there before we um shift over to some of the areas I know you're focusing on?

SPEAKER_08 9:20

Well, I think especially with character AI, I think we know that having something that's not, you know, it's not sentient. Sentient's a big word. It means, you know, having consciousness, being alive, right? Interacting with that as if it's a human is really not good for mental health. Oh yeah. So it's just something to think about as far as is this is this the hole I want to go down? Uh is this what I want to do with my time?

Amber Ivey 9:47

And why do you think, can we dig deeper there a

Why Character Chat Can Harm

Amber Ivey 9:51

little bit? Why do you think is not helpful for mental health for me as a kid to be on a character AI or some chatbot acting with something that's like it's alive? Why, why could that impact me?

SPEAKER_08 10:03

Right. So whenever we talk amongst each other, we make millions. And in fact, whenever we create, we make millions of conscious and unconscious decisions where we're thinking about what we'll say, we're thinking and considering about what the other person has said.

Amber Ivey 10:18

Character.

SPEAKER_08 10:19

And that's not going on. That chat GPT or thing like you're you're looking at uh character AI, it's just spitting the words that will most likely be in the text that it's been fed. You know, that's all it's doing. There's no consciousness, there's no intent. It's very unhealthy to interact with a computer or with a word generator like it's a human. You know, that's just probably not good. And that unfortunately, we're seeing examples now. Now, I'm not saying that it's been like documented 100% researched, it's too soon for that. But we're seeing examples of people having delusions and thinking, you know, uh thinking thoughts that are not healthy or just completely incorrect because of their interaction with chatbots for a long time. So, hey, you know what? Play a video game because at least with a video game, we're not confusing that for interacting with humans, you know. So just something to think about.

Amber Ivey 11:16

But the thing I want to dig into is I'm sure parents and students are listening to it and folks are a little nervous. So let's get real a bit. A lot of parents do worry about AI apps, and there has been a lot of scary stories recently in the news related to kids and apps, particularly around chatbots, not necessarily around like teaching apps, but around chatbots for sure. How do you make sure outside of COPA that Buddy is safe for students and for those who are interacting with it?

SPEAKER_07 11:44

Yeah, Amber. So, first of all, I think

Choosing AI Tools Made For Kids

SPEAKER_07 11:47

it's a very fair concern as a parent too. Yeah, right. I'm concerned about like when my daughter started talking to like a character AI thing, I was like super concerned. So I believe it is important for everybody, children, parents, and teachers. With kids, we have all of this like age ratings, yeah, because of a reason, right? So most of AI products and AI chatbots aren't made for children. I think it is very important to only use products that are specifically designed for children, and moreover, I would say use products that have like a very specific purpose. I would say very specific, like educational purpose, but it could also be like an art, for example. But I see AI as a tool, not as a toy. So I think it's essential. And when you consider an AI tool, try to understand what's the purpose of this tool. If it's educational, it should have a curriculum. Well, if it's a design or art tool, how it works, what's the main purpose? And I would really recommend use only tools that were built with specific purpose, specifically for children. It may sound boring for kids or something like that. I'm sorry guys, but I think it's an important note.

Amber Ivey 13:05

How do I, as a kid, as a parent, as a teacher navigate that space when I may already love my stuffed animal, now it has a voice and I'm talking to it. Like, what should we be thinking about with these new types of toys? Mattel's about to put AI in toys, a bunch of folks are thinking about it. What do we do there?

SPEAKER_00 13:26

I think it's like I am generally a positive person. So I think like I do have some hope that even as you know, when plastic toys came along and

Talking Toys And The Creativity Tradeoff

SPEAKER_00 13:36

there were a lot of toxins in the colors and the materials, just the physical toys, there is now again like a movement on uh plant toys type of companies where it's it's mostly like wooden toys or sustainable materials. So there's still a market for uh, like you know, Etsy is thriving. So a lot of handmade things and DIY culture, maker culture is still thriving. So I'm hoping that even as these companies just rush to be the first, the first talking doll, the first talking whatever, uh, there will be a community of families who would still want the traditional toys leave something left to imagination. Because that was the whole appeal of dolls or uh non-talking toys, that it allowed children to fill in the blanks themselves and practice their own creativity. And so now these AI toys can even put kids in silos. That one thing we don't think about is we say, well, one of the greatest powers of AI is hyper-personalization. It can really adapt to your interests and your, but it's kind of like having a news channel that's very heavily politically inclined to one party, one political party, right? It it does not show you the other side of the story. So it's kind of like if a child says, I love dinosaurs, and this AI toy goes, Well, let me tell you a story about dinosaurs, let's uh uh print a sticker sheet about dinosaurs, let me tell you about the history of dinosaurs. And so now this child who instead went to the library and could have been exposed to many different topics, not just dinosaurs, uh, now it's kind of like limited to the one idea they had, and it not getting exposed to ideas that otherwise you would have never even thought of.

Amber Ivey 15:37

What kind of questions do you ask first? And what do adults often misunderstand about how kids are using technology, either in the classroom or at home?

Sarah Zipf 15:47

Amber, I think that my first question would be, and maybe not even just for AI, but for any sort of educational technology, is what is it for or what is the goal of this technology? And only when you start to answer or outline the goals of how that technology is going to improve something, should it then actually be used or implemented in the in the classroom.

Define The Goal Before Classroom Tech

Sarah Zipf 16:09

We see a lot of technology come into our lives with the idea that it's technologically advanced and that we're making progress towards something. But that progress is often left undefined. And it's defined then by those who are building that technology, just like what Tiffany was saying about the winners and the losers. And so I would say that when we see new AI tools show up in the classroom, um, or any technology for that matter, it really needs to be a question about what is the end goal for using this technology? Do we really need this much? Do we need a portion of it? Should we maybe do something different? And then as for the misunderstanding about how kids use technology, I think that there's an assumption that children, and again, I have teenage boys. Um and the other day we were sitting at dinner, and I said to my 17-year-old who is about to graduate from high school, do you know how to download a document and then upload it? And he looked at me and he said, Why would I ever need to do that? And so there's, I think, a general assumption that adults have that children, as uh having grown up on screens and digital devices, have a more technically advanced knowledge of the computer literacy and actions than they actually do. Um, again, my 17-year-old has never had a formal typing class. And so he types with his two pointer fingers. And that's sure that's pretty surprising, right? That that in this day and age, that the ways in which we have asked children to submit their assignments, to do their schoolwork, that we haven't actually stopped to teach them about these different applications, about word processing, how to type, and then simple things like emailing attachments and downloading documents, those kinds of things. So I think that there's a misunderstanding that that um that exists between adults and and the this next generation, generation alpha, generation Z, that um that they are more technically savvy than what they really are.

Amber Ivey 18:38

So if someone wanted to try an activity or thing on AI PCO this week, what's the first thing you would tell them to do?

Dhani Ramadhani 18:46

I think they should try to find something that is within their life first. Like, don't don't try something fancy, don't do um some like trying to app to solve for well like hunger. Like that's that's a bit you know, hard. You need to find something that what is a friction point in your life, or maybe what's your biggest technology use? I would recommend either

Start With A Real Life Friction

Dhani Ramadhani 19:10

of those two approach. Um, my friction point was I hate cooking. That's why I like recipes, like meal planning, I hate it. That's when I'm how can I use this tool to help me else if you use technology the most watch something, maybe figure out a way to audit yourself and like why are you watching certain things? Is it the algorithm pushing you to do that? Is it because you actually like it? Being able to sort of I don't know if kids know the word, but meta cognition, like being able to think about how you think is really key, and it's something I'm trying to practice. And that really starts from those two simple things like what is your friction point, what's hard for you, and then what do you use the most?

Amber Ivey 19:51

I love that. I often, when I'm talking to adults about this, I say the same thing as like what is the thing that's causing you the most pain or something that's quick that if you fix, it would it would make your life happier, focus on that first. And I love what you're saying there. I know we've all heard of this thing called human in the loop. I mentioned it earlier, and I also said teachers in the loop, AI. But you talk about parent in the loop. What does that mean in plain English?

Julie Kelleher 20:15

Yeah, so uh so if you know anybody kind of in the AI and the tech world, uh, we've probably heard this concept of human in the loop. So human in the loop is really this, you know, kind of advocacy and this idea of a human is involved in these AI workflows, in inputting the content, inputting the information, inputting the prompt, and then also

Becoming The Parent In The Loop

Julie Kelleher 20:36

on the other end of it, reviewing it, validating it, verifying it, vetting it, et cetera. So, you know, I I'm I'm a big advocate of for that. I'm I'm always the human in the loop and the AI that I that I'm using. And then as I was thinking about how to, you know, help other other families kind of learn about AI and determine if they want to try, you know, try some of the benefits that I've I've experienced. I realized like I'm not, I don't, I'm not here to give parenting advice. I uh and I also don't want to be kind of pushing something that people aren't comfortable with. And so I really I really needed a guiding principle. And so I landed on, you know, my guiding principle is that I want I want to help other parents, I want to empower them to become the parent in the loop, the AI parent in the loop in their kids' lives because it's here to stay and our kids are accessing it. If they're younger, maybe they're not accessing it yet. But they you know, and I know in elementary schools AI tools are being used that are approved and great to use. Um and then I know, I mean, in middle school, and I'm starting to get really, you know, I'm I'm creating a lot more, I'm creating some workshops specifically around this because uh in middle school, that's where there's a lot more kind of freedom and independence and the boundaries are starting to get tested. And and and parents need to stay in the loop on what's going on in their kids' lives. Just like, and this is like an analogy that I like to share. Uh, you know, I'm not gonna let my kids go to some random playground that I've never heard about with a bunch of people that I've never heard of or met and spend as much time as they want to be there. That's the physical world. I'm the parent in the loop there. I still make decisions. I I determine if, when, how, why, where, what they do. The same goes for the digital world and especially the AI world. And so I uh, you know, so I talk about being the parent in the loop, having a parent in the loop mindset, and and it's really this loop. I mean, it's continuous. Like a new thing comes out, you know, a new feature gets dropped into a tool that we're using at home, then I've got to go and figure out how that works. And uh that's really, that's really what has kind of grounded me and helped me help others understand what I'm trying to do without trying to kind of push something. Because really I'm saying it's your family, your choice. I want to help you figure out how you can become in the loop and stay in the loop so your kids can thrive because there are a lot of benefits, but we also need to be aware of the the risks and the and the threats.

Amber Ivey 23:01

And that's a wrap on this season, season three of AI for kids. To the kids listening, have a great summer, go outside, play, read something fun, ask weird questions, make something with your hands, rest your brain, and remember you're still the thinker. AI is just a tool. To the grown-ups listening, thank you for helping kids build these skills one conversation at a time. If you want weekly updates over the summer, you can sign up for the AI for kids weekly in the show notes. And our ABCs of AI activity deck is available for pre-order now at AIdigicars.com.

Summer Sendoff And Helpful Resources

Amber Ivey 23:32

Once the deck is here, I'll do an episode to let you all know. It should be state side by July or August. And if you want something you can use right now, there's a printable ABCs of AI poster that's available at AIDGars.com for kids' room, classroom, library, or any learning space. Thank you, thank you, thank you so much for being here. Enjoy your summer, keep asking questions, and I'll see you soon. Bye bye. Thank you for joining us as we explore the fascinating world of artificial intelligence. Don't keep this adventure to yourself. Download it, share it with your friends, and let everyone else in on the fun. Subscribe wherever you get your podcast or on YouTube. See you next time on AI for kids.