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AI and You 9-12 / Week 06 / Explorer Quest
6/6
Week 06 · Bias, Fairness and Sameness

Explorer Quest

Explorer Quest: Who gets left out?
// Does SH-1 serve every student equally well?
⏱ about 20 min

Explorer Quest: Who Gets Left Out?

Comet holds up two made-up helpers. One is a box of recipe cards written in only one language. The other is a sign that uses only pictures.

"Both are helpful," she says. "Right?"

Wren studies them. "Helpful to whom? What do you notice about who could use each one?"

Comet turns the recipe box over. "If you cannot read this language, you are stuck."

Nova hovers over the picture sign. "Would you like a hint?" she asks. "Imagine three different people trying to use each helper."

Comet nods. "And then we make a better one together."

  1. Biased training data can leave some people less well served than others.
  2. A tool can work well for most people and badly for a few.
  3. Fixing one problem does not make a tool fair for everyone.
◇ WHO GETS LEFT OUT?
You need a family member, paper and a pencil.
Read the two made-up helpers together: a box of recipe cards in only one language, and a sign that uses only pictures.
Read the three made-up people below, one at a time.
Person A reads a different language from the recipe cards. Person B cannot read words yet. Person C cannot see pictures well.
For each person, talk about whether each helper would work for them. Mark yes or no on paper.
Count how many of the three people each helper serves well.
Together, design a better helper on paper for a home routine, such as where the shoes go.
Use pictures and words, and add anything else that would help more people.
Talk together: who might your new helper still leave out?
For a grown-up
This week your student learned how an AI tool can work well overall but badly for one group.
One example is speakers of one language.
Ask: how could a helper that works for most people still leave someone worse off?
Ask: who should be asked before a new tool is used at school or at home?
Everything in this course is done on paper. No app, website, account or AI tool is needed.
QUEST CHECK
  • Read the question.
  • Tap your answer.
Who would the one-language recipe cards leave out?
Who would the picture-only sign leave out?
Quest reviewTrue or false?
A helper can work well for most people and still leave someone out.?
Adding words to a picture sign could help more people.?
A helper that works for two of three people is fair to everyone.?
WHY THIS EXERCISEChecking who a tool leaves out is the same work the crew did with SH-1 and Spanish learners.
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