How 4th Graders Used AI to Hunt Vampire Fish (Elementary School)

Vampire fish in the Great Lakes sounds like a prank until you learn sea lampreys are real and they’re chewing through ecosystems like trout and salmon. We start with that eerie mental image, then take a hard turn into something hopeful: kids solving a real environmental problem with artificial intelligence, creativity, and a strong sense of what “safe” should mean.

A team of fourth graders in Michigan enters the Presidential AI Challenge and builds a concept called the Guardian of the Lakes, an AI-powered drone designed to spot sea lampreys even in murky water and remove them while leaving other fish alone. We unpack the big idea powering their invention: computer vision. When a student says the drone “detects patterns,” that’s the clearest definition of AI you’ll hear all week. We connect it to everyday tech kids already know, like self-checkout systems that can tell a banana from an apple.

Then we focus on the part adults often skip: AI safety and privacy. One kid nails the rule in plain language, reminding us that helpful AI can’t come at the cost of tracking people or grabbing private information in public spaces. To make the learning stick, we share a screen-free activity, the Guardian Game, where your family or class picks a neighborhood problem, designs a “guardian,” decides what patterns the AI must recognize, and sets one safety rule.

If you want practical AI literacy for kids, STEM education ideas, and a real story about responsible innovation, press play. Subscribe, share this with a parent or teacher, and leave a review so more families can build safer, smarter AI habits together.

Transcript

Welcome To The Vampire Fish

Amber Ivey 0:05

Hi friends, welcome back to AI for kids. Okay, today I need you to imagine something with me. Imagine you're swimming in one of the great lakes. Think Lake Michigan. One, do you know where that is? If not, ask your parent or teacher. Or maybe Lake Superior. Do you know where that is? Again, if not, talk to your parents and teachers about it. The water's chilly, the sun is bouncing off the top, and you're having a great time. And then there are vampires in the water. I know, I know, but hear me out. I'm not making this up. There's a real fish that lives in the Great Lakes called the Sea Lamprey. And people call it the vampire fish. Want to know why? Because it has like seven circles of teeth in its mouth, which is super scary. Picture a little tunnel of sharp teeth, and it attaches itself to other fish, and well, it doesn't get pretty. The sea lamprey is what grown-ups

What Makes Sea Lampreys Invasive

Amber Ivey 1:01

call an invasive species. That's just a fancy way of saying it doesn't belong there, but it showed up anyway. And now it's causing a whole lot of problems for the fish that do belong, like trout, salmon. Two fish, by the way, your family's dinner sometimes depends on if you eat meat or fish. So that's part of the problem. Vampire fish, real life, real lakes in the Great Lakes, herding real fish. Now, this is where it

Fourth Graders Join The AI Challenge

Amber Ivey 1:30

gets good, and this is where we actually address our AI in real life episode. This happened actually, I think, last month. A group of fourth graders at Central Elementary School in Kennewa Hills, Michigan, that are kids your age said, we got this. Their teacher, Mrs. Wersensk, Wors Worsinski, their teacher, Mrs. Worshinski, their teacher, Mrs. Wersinski, signed them up for something called the Presidential AI Challenge. It's a real competition where the president of the United States wants young people to use AI to solve real problems in their community. And these fourth graders looked around and said, you know what? What's a real problem? Those vampire fish in our lakes. So they got to work. Some kids became the research team. They read up on the sea lampreys from real scientists. Some kids became the tech team. They figured out how AI could actually spot a vampire fish in dirty, murky water. Some kids drew up the plans. Some kids wrote the essay, and altogether they invented something they call the guardian of the lakes.

The Guardian Drone Idea

Amber Ivey 2:40

You know what it is? It's a drone, a flying robot. But not just any drone. It's an AI-powered drone that can fly over the water, look down into the lake, and tell the difference between a sea lamprey and a friendly fish like a trout or salmon. Like a and tell the difference between a sea lamprey and a friendly fish like a trout or salmon. And when it spots one of those vampire fish, it uses a little vacuum to suck it up. Friendly fish get the swim free. Vampire fish, bye-bye. I know whether you agree or not is weird, very weird use of AI. But here's the part I want you to really hear. Because this is what AI in real life looks like. A fourth grader, a fourth grader named Matthias said, and I'm quoting him directly from the articles: our drone uses AI to detect C Lamprey patterns. If it moves like a snake and has seven gills, it sucks it up. You hear what Matthias is saying. Matthias, let me say that part over. Now here's the part I want you to really hear, because

Computer Vision And Pattern Spotting

Amber Ivey 3:50

this is what AI looks like in real life. A fourth grader named Matthias said, and I'm quoting him directly, our drone uses AI to detect sea lamprey patterns. It moves, if it moves like a snake and has seven gills, it sucks it up. You hear what Matthias has just taught us? He said that AI looks for patterns. That's literally what AI does. It learns what a vampire fish looks like, long like a snake, seven gills. And then when it sees something that matches those patterns, it knows what it is. We all have talked about this before when we talked about vision. That's called computer vision. It's the same kind of AI that can tell a banana from an apple at the self-checkout at a grocery store. Same idea. The computer learned what to look for. Then another fourth grader, Lucas, said something I really want you to remember, okay, folks? You can use AI to build stuff that helps the world, but we have to use it safely. We can't use it to track people or private information in public. Stop. I want you to hear that one more time with me. You can use AI to build stuff

AI Safety And Privacy Rules

Amber Ivey 4:55

that helps the world, but we have to use it safely. We can't use it to track people or private information in public. This fourth grader, your age or near your age, already knows the important rule about AI. You can use it too to do amazing things with your parent or teacher's permission, and you have to use it carefully, both at the same time. That's it. The whole conversation grownups are having around AI right now, and a nine-year-old just summed it up better than most of us. Oh, and one more thing. Out of 2,800 kids in Michigan who entered the challenge, these fourth graders came in first place. First, they got to present to a panel of judges over Zoom, and their teacher said, and I quote, my kids are AI pioneers. I love that. AI pioneers. Parents, teachers, grown-ups, quick work for you. The Presidential AI Challenge

Winning The Challenge And AI.gov

Amber Ivey 5:45

is a real free nationwide competition. You can find it at AI.gov. Any classroom, any age, any school can enter these types of competitions. And it shows kids that AI isn't just something that's happening to them. It's something they can build. If your kid lights up at this episode, that's a sign. Okay, kids, back to you. So here's what I want you to take from this. AI in real life isn't just stuff happening at the grocery store in your video games. That's part of it, right? But AI in real life is also something you can use to solve a problem, to help a fish, to save a lake, to make your community a little bit better. You don't have to wait until you're grown up. The kids in Michigan didn't, right? Which brings us to a screen-free thing this week, and I really like this one. It's called the Guardian game, based off of what you heard in today's episode. Here's how you play. Tonight at dinner or in the car or wherever your family hangs out or in your

The Screen Free Guardian Game

Amber Ivey 6:35

classroom, everyone picks one problem in your neighborhood. Just one. It can be anything. Maybe there's too much trash at the park. Maybe dogs keep getting lost in your street or cats keep getting lost in your neighborhood. Maybe your grandma keeps losing her glasses. Maybe the squirrels are stealing food from the bird feeder. Any problem? Then together, I want you to answer three questions. One, what would the guardian look like? Is it a drone, a robot, a little camera, a wristband? Use your imagination. Two, what would the AI need to learn to recognize? The kids in Michigan talked their AI to spot vampire fish. What would your AI need to spot? Come up with that. Three, what's the rule we need to follow to keep it safe? Remember, Lucas, no tracking people, no private information. That's the game. You don't need a screen, you don't need an app, you don't need anything. Just you, your family, or classroom, papers and crayons if you want to draw it out, and your big beautiful brain. Um, that's all you need. You can call it the guardian of the park, the guardian of the dog park, the guardian of grandma's glasses. It's up to you. And friends, if you build one and it's awesome, your teacher maybe can help you enter the next presidential challenge next year. Just saying, okay, so let's recap. One, there are vampire fish in the Great Lakes called sea lampreys, and they're causing real problems for real fish. Two, fourth graders in Michigan invented an AI powered drone called the Guardian of the Lakes to find them. Three, the AI uses something called computer vision to spot patterns, long like a snake, several seven gills, that's a vampire fish. Four, kids your age won first place in the state level presidential AI challenge for it. Five, and the most important one. Lucas that fourth graders at it best, you can use AI to help the world and you can use it safely,

Recap And Takeaways

Amber Ivey 8:20

both always. This is what I mean when I say AI in real life. It's not scary, it's not just grown-up stuff. It's a tool we can use to make the world better, but we also have to be very careful with it. And the more you know about it, the more you can do with it, and the more you can help others understand how to use it. I'm so proud of those kids in Michigan, and I'm also proud of you for listening and learning right alongside them. Until next time, stay curious, keep asking questions, and remember you don't have to wait till you get older to make a difference. You can start tonight at dinner or in your classroom with the Guardian game. I'll see you all in a few weeks. Bye bye.