AI Kids Scoop | Korea, Gemini AI for Kids, and More News

Spring is here—and so is our new weekly podcast format! We’re now alternating between fun episodes for kids and a new segment, “AI Kids Scoop,” where we break down what’s happening in AI and education.

After a recent trip to Seoul, I saw just how powerful AI can be—using ChatGPT to plan, Google Lens to read menus, and Translate to chat with locals. It’s a reminder that AI is here now, and our kids need to learn how to use it wisely.

Our inaugural AI Kids Scoop covers groundbreaking developments in the AI education landscape. Google recently announced Gemini AI access for children under 13 through supervised accounts, while governments worldwide are racing to implement AI literacy programs. The US President signed an executive order advancing AI education, China mandated annual AI classes for all students, and the UAE plans to introduce AI concepts to children as young as four years old.

The private sector is responding with innovative offerings like Blue Whale AI Academy's summer camp for ages 5-12 and Buddy AI's language learning app designed specifically for children. Perhaps most fascinating is ABii, an AI-powered robot from the University of South Carolina that uses facial recognition to provide "empathetic tutoring" tailored to students' emotional states.

While these developments are exciting, we emphasize the continued importance of adult supervision, critical thinking, and creativity. 

Google AI Resources.

Chapters

• 1:00 Welcome Back and Podcast Updates
• 1:56 Using AI During Seoul Vacation
• 3:12 Introducing AI Kids Scoop Segment
• 4:35 Google's AI Tools for Children
• 6:23 Global Education Initiatives for AI
• 7:57 New AI Programs for Kids
• 10:25 Guidance on Responsible AI Use
• 12:10 Closing Thoughts and Next Episode

Transcript

Amber Ivey: 0:31

Hey folks, I have been away for a little bit of time, enjoying spring break, having a vacation, and I'm really excited to be back. Sorry for all the replays the last few weeks, but I'm excited to be back. I just want to share a few things. One we're moving to a weekly cadence for the podcast, so hopefully you're excited about that. The new way that's going to work is going to be very similar to what we've done before. So one week we'll have a podcast for elementary school kid, and then also middle and higher. Of course anyone can listen to the elementary school level as well, and parents and teachers feel free to tune in. And then on the opposite week, with all the stuff that's happening in the AI for kids and education space. I just want to use that as a space to share with all of you kids about what are all the new things happening and what's going on in this space. So we'll do a segment called the AI Kids Scoop where we talk about AI for Kids news and give out updates.

Amber Ivey: 1:26

But before we do that and jump into our first AI Kids Scoop, I want to share my recent vacation and trip to Seoul, korea. So I got an opportunity to go to Korea and it was amazing. And one of the things that was really helpful during my trip was using AI. So I don't speak Korean and I've never been to Seoul Korea. I've had family and friends who have been there before, but I never been and while I was there, I used AI to be able to navigate and make sure that I wasn't a burden on people Because I don't speak the language. I wanted to make sure that I wasn't one of those people who tried to get other folks to understand English or anything like that. So I used a few AI tools. One I used ChatGPT to help with planning the trip, which was super cool. It gave me places to go and made it very clear of, like, the best places I should visit while I was there. And then, because I don't read Korean, I use Google Lens to basically translate signs, menus, the backup products that I was considering buying, and it translates it in live time, so you can actually see. I also use Google Translate with different Uber drivers or people to help them know exactly where I wanted to go in their language. So it was just a great trip and a great use of AI, and it really made me want to come home and really continue to do this work and to help you kids learn more about this. So let's go ahead and kick off our first AI Kids Scoop. So welcome, welcome, welcome.

Amber Ivey: 2:50

This will be a special new segment just for kids. Parents, teachers you're always welcome to listen in and learn as well, but I'm just excited to share a lot of fun and important news from the world of AI and education for kids. That's been happening and you're going to hear a few things. You're going to hear about how things are changing as it relates to teaching AI in schools, cool activities where kids can learn about AI, and even AI tools made just for children. I will say this to kids, teachers and parents we have not tested out all these tools. This is just a new segment. So if you are going to try these tools out, please remember to read the terms and conditions and to know what you're giving away in those systems, to make sure that you always try AI out with the adult, meaning a parent or teacher or guardian that is able to be with you. We're sharing the news. It does not mean we agree with different things are happening within this segment. I will make sure that we are neutral and just sharing news straight up so you can know what's happening out there. And if you want to ask me in detail if I agree or not, feel free to email us at contact at aidigitalscom, and we can share more about how we feel about these different tools and technologies. But let's go to get started. So Big thing that happened recently was that Google announced a lot of new AI tools for kids.

Amber Ivey: 4:06

It's been busy creating AI tools in general, but now is going to provide Gemini AI for kids. So that means that Google will allow children under the age of 13 to be able to use Gemini's AI chatbot through supervised accounts. So parents can manage permissions and set Gemini as a child's default assistant on devices. Kids can use Gemini for homework help, creative writing and answering questions. But the big thing here is Google even states and reminds parents that Gemini isn't human and kids. Gemini isn't human. It can make mistakes, so it's important to monitor its use and, honestly, under 13 is kind of early to have these tools, and I know it's semi-supervised, but kids do not use any tools online without a parent. I do understand that kids are going to get access to tools, but we're not just saying this just because we're old and just want to talk about these things. We just want to make sure you all know that these tools we don't even know how they work as adults. A lot of tech providers also are understanding that these tools can make mistakes and tell you things that are not true, so you always have to use a tool with an adult. But Google AI is now available for children under 13. Also, in celebration of Natural AI Literacy Day, google did introduce a bunch of new resources to help students and young people learn and grow using AI. This included AI training courses for educators, learning plans for students on responsible AI use and a conversation guide for families. I'll link a lot of this in the show notes, so feel free to go down there and grab it. So Google is doing a lot in the AI for Kids space. Again, make sure you are not using these tools without a parent, but just letting you all know what's happening.

Amber Ivey: 5:47

Okay, so what else is going on? There's some big things in education news. So first some big news about AI in schools. Right, the president announced a new national plan to teach kids about AI. He actually signed something called an executive order, which is basically a directive telling governments and just putting out there what he wants to do in this world of AI, and the executive order is called Advancing AI Education for American Youth. This means schools will start using more AI in the classroom and teachers will get training on how to use it. The idea is that learning about AI can spark curiosity and creativity in students, and in other words, kids will learn how computers and robots think so they can actually imagine and hopefully create new inventions and actually understand how to use AI. The president's plan even creates a special task force, which is a team of experts who are going to help make tools for classrooms and support teachers and help them to also learn about AI.

Amber Ivey: 6:43

But we're not the only country doing this, and China officials said that starting this fall, every student, even elementary school kids, will spend time learning about AI at school, so they plan for each child to have at least eight hours of AI classes a year. Also, in the United Arab Emirates, or UAE, they announced that kids could start learning AI concepts as young as four years old in school. So around the world, many places are getting ready to teach young learners about computers that can think and what it means to actually understand AI. A lot of countries are thinking about how important AI is and really trying to get ahead of how do we prepare kids to use AI, so I also wanted to share some different AI tools and things that are coming up. A company called Blue Whale AI Academy just launched a new summer camp for kids ages five to 12. At this camp, kids will play games and learn about AI in a safe way. The camp leaders say they want children to learn AI concepts early, since AI will be a part of everyone's future. At the camp, kids will discover what AI is, learn how to ask AI tools questions safely and even create art or stories with AI systems.

Amber Ivey: 7:53

Kids, if you're interested in learning more, make sure you talk to your parents about researching about Blue Whale AI Academy and what they're doing around the AI summer camp. Another tool that came out is an AI tutor app, and I may interview the creator of this at some point, but there's a new app called Buddy AI that helps children learn English by talking to an AI character. So in late April, buddy AI announced it passed safety tests for children's apps, which is really cool. There's certain certifications that have to be achieved to protect you kids, your privacy and protect you online. So if your child uses a tablet to learn language, apps like Buddy AI are being checked to make sure they keep kids' data private and content kid appropriate. But again, these are new companies and a lot of new companies are coming up. So, parents, make sure you check into these different tools to see if this is something that's appropriate for you and your family. And there's also this new like helpful robot that schools are using.

Amber Ivey: 8:50

So at the University of South Carolina, researchers built a friendly robot called ABii. ABii is an AI powered robot for kindergarten through fifth grade students. It uses a camera to see students' faces and can notice if a child looks happy or confused, and then it tries to help them learn with empathy. So, for example, if Avi shows a math problem and sees a smile, it might give a harder one, but if it actually sees a puzzle face, then it might give a hint or a simpler problem. This kind of robot is a social robot and it shows that AI can also react to kids' emotions and then, as a tutor, update and change how it's doing things. And researchers say that ABI delivers what they believe is called empathetic tutoring, which means it tries to make sure every kid feels encouraged and understood and it hopes to meet kids exactly where they are. China already uses AI and tools to understand kids' emotions. So this is very interesting, but these are just a few examples of how and tools to understand kids' emotions. So this is very interesting, but these are just a few examples of how AI is coming into kids' lives through education from tutors on tablets to robots in classrooms to summer camps.

Amber Ivey: 9:56

There's lots of ways for kids to start exploring AI safely and testing it out right now. But again, I will say this to the end of time Understand all this stuff is happening. Things are moving so quickly. So kids and even parents and teachers, at the end of the day, we have to use common sense. We have to make sure the things we've learned, such as not talking to strangers, not giving our information out there, ai is a different world, right, and if you don't know that AI and someone can't bash for it, that's a stranger Don't use it. So just make sure, as you all are learning this space and even in school, interacting with these things, you're using your common sense or critical thinking. You all can fill in your gut when something's wrong, and make sure you always are using these with teachers and with parents, because I know you're being inundated with all this stuff and I just want to make sure you have information for what's going on out there.

Amber Ivey: 10:54

Kids, you have to learn how to be creative, how to have critical thinking. Those are skill sets you cannot let AI take from you, right? We want to make sure that, while the world is changing and certain roles may not exist in the future, we need to make sure that you're being innovative, that you're problem solving and that you know how to do projects on your own. Education has to change and you got to make sure that you don't use these systems just to, kind of like, get things done, but use them as thought partners to help encourage you and help you grow even further.

Amber Ivey: 11:18

So that was the latest scoop for today. We heard that governments are making plans to teach kids about AI in school. There's new programs and tools popping up to help children learn technology in a fun and safe way. I just want you all to know that. I want to make sure you all are up to speed, and I know sometimes some of the interviews are a little bit older, so I want to give you something that's right, on time, right now, so you know exactly what's happening in the world right now. I will try to stay neutral in the. As we get evidence of what's working and what's not, we'll share that out too, but I hope you and your parents enjoyed this update and learned something new about how AI is being used in education and for kids. So, as always, stay curious, keep asking questions and remember AI is a tool we can all learn about and use responsibly. Join us again in two weeks for more kid-friendly AI news. Goodbye for now and keep exploring the world.