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AI and You 9-12 / Week 10 / Explorer Quest
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Week 10 · Footprint and Supply Chain

Explorer Quest

Explorer Quest: Trace a supply chain
// What SH-1 depends on, and who can use it
⏱ about 20 min

Explorer Quest: Trace a Supply Chain

On Saturday, Comet turns her desk lamp upside down and reads the small label on its base.

"Somebody made the bulb, somebody made the cord, and somebody put it all together," she says. "I never thought about it."

Wren laughs. "That is a value chain. What does the evidence say? How much can you actually find out from the outside?"

Comet squints at the label. "Some of it. Not all of it. Just like SH-1."

Nova hovers beside the lamp. "Would you like a hint?" she asks. "Write down what you know, what you guess and what you cannot tell."

Wren grins at you. "Reviewer, try it with your family."

  1. Running generative AI takes computing resources and can leave a large footprint.
  2. There is no agreed way yet to estimate generative AI's environmental impacts, so the crew rated R8 Unknown.
  3. A value chain is all the parts and makers a system depends on.
  4. With many outside parts, problems can be hard to trace.
  5. A product should be checked for whether a broad group can use it.
◇ TRACE A SUPPLY CHAIN
Sit with a family member who has a few minutes to help.
Together, choose one everyday object with several parts, such as a lamp, a backpack, a chair or a pencil case.
On paper, make three columns: What we know, What we can guess, and What we cannot tell.
List the object's parts. For each part, talk about who might have made it.
Read any label or tag on the object. Write what it tells you in the first column.
Write your guesses in the middle column and your open questions in the last one.
Then talk together: what would you want to know about the parts of a study helper before trusting it?
Example: a desk lampWhat we knowWhat we can guessWhat we cannot tell
BulbIt fits the lampMade by a different maker than the lampWho made it
Cord and plugThey are attached to the lampMade in a factoryWho checked them
Whole lampWhere the label says it was put togetherSeveral makers sent partsEvery maker's name
ShadeIts colorMade of cloth or paperWhere the material came from
For a grown-up
This quest needs only an everyday object and paper. No device is needed.
Ask: which parts could we not trace at all, and does that change how much we trust the object?
Keep the talk about objects and makers. Nothing about any person needs to be written down.
QUEST CHECK
  • Read the question.
  • Tap your answer.
Your lamp's label names where it was put together, but not who made the bulb. What should you write for the bulb's maker?
SH-1 depends on a base model from another company. What is that company to Harbor Point?
What do we call all the parts and makers a system depends on?
← Friday