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AI Explorers 6-8 / Week 08 / Wednesday
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Week 08 · How Generative AI Makes Things

Wednesday

Explorer Lab: The Paper Predictor
// From sorting to making
⏱ about 20 min

Wednesday: Explorer Lab: The Paper Predictor

Rocket lines up five paper cups and labels each one with a word: Rocket, Raven, spots, logs and a.

"Each cup holds counters for the words that come next," Raven explains.

"If 'spots' follows 'Rocket' three times, three spots counters go in the Rocket cup."

Nova hovers over the row of cups. "Now you can choose two ways," she says.

"Always pick the biggest pile, or draw a counter without looking."

"Which way do you think writes more surprising sentences?"

Rocket rubs his hands together. "Only one way to find out."

Your lab

You will turn the mission log into a paper word predictor, then let it write sentences two ways.

  • Five paper cups or envelopes
  • About twenty small paper slips
  • A pencil
  • The mission log lines from Tuesday
  • A partner, if you can find one
Safety first
Use only paper, cups and pencils for this lab.
This lab is fully unplugged. It does not use any real AI tool or website.
  1. Label five cups: Rocket, Raven, spots, logs and a.
  2. Read each log line. For every word pair, write the second word on a slip and drop it in the first word's cup.
  3. Check the Rocket cup: it should hold three spots slips and one logs slip.
  4. Method 1: start with "Rocket" and always pick the most common slip in each cup. Write the sentence.
  5. Method 2: start with "Raven", shake the cup and draw one slip without looking. Repeat for each cup.
  6. Stop when you reach a word with no cup, such as comet, planet or star.
  7. Make five sentences with Method 2. Mark each one as new or copied from the log.
SentenceMethodWordsNew or copied?
1most common
2draw a slip
3draw a slip
4draw a slip
5draw a slip
6draw a slip
PREDICT FIRST
  • Read the question.
  • Tap your answer.
Method 1 always picks the biggest pile. Starting from "Rocket", what sentence will it write?
Could Method 2 ever write "Raven logs a comet", which is not in the log?
How many slips go in the Rocket cup?
Every time Method 1 starts with "Rocket", it writes the same sentence. Type yes or no.
Lab ideaTrue or false?
The predictor can write a sentence that never appeared in the log.?
The predictor can use a word, like moon, that is not in any cup.?
The predictor checks whether its sentence is true.?
WHY THIS EXERCISEIt can mix known words into new sentences, but it only counts patterns and never checks facts.

Excellent lab work. Keep your cups. Tomorrow you ask what the predictor really knows.

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