T is for Token - ABCs of AI (Elementary+)

Tokens are the invisible building blocks that power every AI conversation, and in this episode of the AI for Kids podcast, we're breaking them down in a way that makes perfect sense for curious young minds!

As part of our "ABCs of AI" series, we've reached the letter T, and tokens take center stage. Ever wondered how AI actually processes our words? Unlike humans who understand complete thoughts, AI breaks everything down into smaller pieces called tokens—which can be whole words, parts of words, or even punctuation marks. When you say "I like robots!" to an AI, it sees four separate tokens, not a complete sentence.

We explore how these tokens help AI systems like ChatGPT, Claude, Gemini, and Llama piece together responses through pattern recognition rather than true comprehension. This explains why AI sometimes gets things wrong when tokens are tricky or questions are confusing! To make this concept tangible, we introduce the "Token Tower Challenge"—a fun game where kids can physically create and arrange tokens to build sentences, just like AI does. We also suggest experimenting with changing single words in AI prompts to see how dramatically the responses change.

Ready to dive deeper into the world of AI? Subscribe to our podcast, have your parents leave us a review, and sign up for our weekly AI newsletter at aidigitales.com/newsletter. Stay curious, and join us next time as we explore the letter U in our ongoing AI adventure!

Chapters

• 0:00 Welcome to AI for Kids Podcast
• 1:27 T is for Token Explained
• 2:32 Token Tower Challenge Game
• 4:51 Next Episode Teaser and Closing

Transcript

Amber Ivey (AI): 0:29

Welcome to the AI for Kids podcast, where playtime, learning and creating collide bit by bit. Ever wonder how your phone recognizes your face. How does a game learn to get harder as you get better? This is AI. This podcast is designed for kids like you and your human parents, making the complex world of AI easy to understand and, most importantly, fun. So are you ready to unlock the mysteries of artificial intelligence? Subscribe and join us on AI for Kids. Hi friends, welcome back to the ABCs of AI.

Amber Ivey (AI): 1:03

Today's letter is T and it stands for token, not like a game token or bus pass. This kind of token helps AI understand the words we say or type. Let's break it down together in a way that really makes sense. So what's a token? When you talk to an AI, like a chatbot or a smart speaker, it doesn't understand full sentences all at once. Instead, it breaks your sentences down into smaller parts called tokens. A token can be a whole word, like apple, a part of a word, like app and pull, or even a punctuation mark like exclamation point. These tokens are how AI understands your message, one piece at a time. So if you say I like robots, ai might see I like robots, exclamation point or four tokens. That's how AI reads what you say and figures out how to reply. So how do tokens help? Ai think Tokens are really like puzzle pieces, so when AI reads them in the right order, it can answer questions, tell stories, finish your sentences or even help with homework with an adult or teacher's help. This is how large language models like ChatGPT, claude, gemini and Llama work. They don't read like humans. They understand tokens and use math to guess what comes next. So here's truth time. Why do tokens matter? Here's some really important things you need to consider. When it comes to tokens, ai doesn't actually understand like a human right, and if you listen to the longer episode for today with Reed, you'll understand that it uses tokens and patterns to guess the next word. Different AIs split up tokens in different ways, so it may do things a little differently depending on if you use ChatGPT versus Gemini versus Llama, and we've talked about this before. But AI doesn't always get it right. If tokens are tricky or your question is confusing, it might say something silly or wrong. That's why it helps to be clear when talking to AI and prompting it to help answer the question or help to do whatever it is you're asking the AI to do so.

Amber Ivey (AI): 3:22

Let's play a game. This game is going to be called the Token Tower Challenge. I want to use this game to help you understand tokens better. What you'll need Paper. Help you understand tokens better. What you'll need Paper, scissors, pencil or marker.

Amber Ivey (AI): 3:39

Then you're going to write one word on each small piece of paper, like the on one piece robot, on one piece, likes on one piece pizza. Then mix the words up in a pile. Next, you're going to pick three to five tokens or pieces of paper and build a sentence by lining them up. Read your sentence aloud. Now ask yourself does it make sense If not? Rearrange the tokens and try again. This is just like how AI builds sentences from tokens. Sometimes it works perfectly and sometimes it's a little silly. And if you want to even go to the next step, you can add even more words and even more tokens into the game to see what you come up with and see how long it takes you to get to the right answer. You can also try other things at home. You can ask an adult to help you, use a chatbot like ChatGPT, and then I want you to type in a sentence like tell me a story about a robot Now change just one word, like robot to dog, and watch how the story changes. That's how just one token can make a big difference.

Amber Ivey (AI): 4:45

So what's next? I want you to get ready for the next adventure in our ABCs of AI. We're heading to the letter U. Here's a clue. It has something to do with you. Until then, I want you to remember tiny tokens can build big ideas.

Amber Ivey (AI): 5:05

And if you like this episode, have your parents, leave us a review so more families can find out about the AI for Kids podcast. And if you're grown up, once weekly AI news made just for you and them. Ask them to sign up at aidigitalescom backslash newsletter. We'll also drop it in the show notes. We do an AI newsletter every Tuesday to accompany the podcast and to help your parents stay up to date with what's happening in the classroom and for AI for Kids. Well, thank you all again for always listening and supporting the AI for Kids podcast. I hope to see you soon and looking forward to our next letter. Have a great day, stay curious. 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 podcasts, or on YouTube. See you next time on AI for Kids.