Sydney Flisser
Pronouns:
Research Mentor(s): Ying Xu
Research Mentor School/College/Department: Educational Studies / Education
Program:
Authors: Sydney Flisser, Ying Xu
Session: Session 6: 3:40 pm – 4:30 pm
Poster: 92
Abstract
This study explores how children aged 4-8 perceive the agency (ability to act and be responsible for actions) and experience (the capacity to feel and experience emotions and sensations) qualities of an AI Alexa model. We seek to determine whether as age increases, children are more or less likely to attribute agency and experience qualities as justification for Alexa’s knowledge. We hypothesize that as age increases, children are less likely to believe that human-like characteristics of agency and experience are what contributes to Alexa’s conversational and informational capabilities. A total of 119 children participated in our study. First, we assessed the baseline Theory of Mind (ToM) scores of participants, asking about the capacity for agency and experience of various nature artifacts, technology tools, and animals. Then, children engaged in a collaborative storytelling activity with Alexa. Finally, we assessed the children’s ToM perception of the agency and experience of Alexa. Our findings indicate that as children’s age increased, they attributed fewer characteristics of agency and experience to Alexa. This suggests that older children are increasingly able to conceptualize the programmed, non-human functions of Alexa, while younger children may be less able to discern whether or not Alexa’s knowledge capabilities arise from an intrinsic ability within the AI. These findings can help us to understand children’s perceptions of AI and may be useful when designing ethical AI tools for use with young children.
