Teaching kids how to make their own little language models

Scott J Mulligan, Kids are learning how to make their own little language models, MIT Technology Review, October 25, 2024.

“This new AI technology—it’s very interesting to learn how it works and understand it more,” says 10-year-old Luca, a young AI model maker.

Luca is one of the first kids to try Little Language Models, a new application from Manuj and Shruti Dhariwal, two PhD researchers at MIT's Media Lab, that helps children understand how AI models work—by getting to build small-scale versions themselves.

The program is a way to introduce the complex concepts that make modern AI models work without droning on about them in a theoretical lecture. Instead, kids can see and build a visualization of the concepts in practice, which helps them get to grips with them. [...]

They plan for the tool to be used around the world. Students will be able to upload their own data, monitored by their teacher. “[Students] can also add their own sounds, images, and backdrops that represent their culture,” says Manuj.

The Dhariwals have also implemented a tool where kids can play around with more advanced concepts like Markov chains, where a preceding variable influences what comes after it. For example, a child could build an AI that creates random houses made from Lego bricks. The child can dictate that if the AI uses a red brick first, the percentage of yellow brick coming next is set much higher.

There's more at the link.