Ishwari Bhatt
Research Mentor: Lauren Girouard
Mentor Department: Psychology, LSA
Author(s): Ishwari Bhatt, Lauren Girouard
Session: Session 1 (9:00 AM – 9:50 AM)
Presentation Type: Poster 58
Abstract
The presence of Artificial Intelligence (AI) is constantly increasing in all aspects of society. With this in mind, it’s vital to understand how the use of AI will impact future generations. AI chatbots, such as ChatGPT and Google Gemini, are sources many children may resort to in order to answer a variety of questions, including those regarding healthcare topics. In order to gain greater insight into children’s faith in AI chatbots we interviewed kids aged 7-14. During these interviews, we asked participants whether they would rather ask adults, doctors, or chatbots various different questions regarding health and medicine. Additionally, we utilized picture vocabulary tests to determine study participants’ knowledge of higher, complex vocabulary. Using this data, we will examine the relationship between vocabulary test scores and the likelihood of a child resorting to chatbots in order to answer medical questions. Data collected from a small pilot sample shows no significant correlation between vocabulary scores and trust in various informants. However, as there is a slight indication that those with higher vocabulary scores tend to place more trust in chatbots, it would be interesting to examine these trends with a larger sample size to see if there is any meaningful association.
