AI Fundamentals
What is a statistical model (or Large Language Model)?
AI systems generate responses based on statistical probabilities from their training data, rather than by actively understanding or verifying facts.
What is algorithmic bias?
AI systems can pick up human stereotypes from their training data and make them stronger. Teachers therefore need to check AI outputs carefully.
What is a Zero-Shot prompt?
This is the most common and intuitive way people talk to AI, best used for simple or broad questions
What is a sparring partner?
Positioning AI as a sparring partner means using it to brainstorm and challenge ideas, while always critically verifying its output.
What is fact-checking?
Because of AI hallucinations, cross-referencing and verifying facts remains a mandatory habit for all academic work.
What is an AI hallucination?
Hallucinations are a major limitation of generative AI, reminding educators and students that they cannot unconditionally trust AI outputs.
What is transparency (or explainability)?
Educational AI must not be a mystery; teachers and students must be able to understand the rationale behind automated outcomes.
What is a Few-Shot prompt?
Adding examples to your prompt significantly improves the AI's ability to generate the specific structure, tone, or complexity you need.
What is critical thinking?
AI enables adaptive, tailored educational experiences, which is especially helpful for accommodating diverse learning challenges.
What is an adversarial prompt?
AI models can sometimes be disturbed or manipulated by hidden vocabularies or specific strings of text that alter the system's underlying mathematical weights in unexpected, hacker-like ways.
What is learning from data (or machine learning)?
Teaching computers to identify patterns from data on their own is what distinguishes modern AI from traditional software.
What is informed consent (or data privacy)?
Protecting privacy and securing explicit authorisation before handling sensitive student information is a primary ethical requirement.
What is Role-Play (or Expert Prompting)?
Forcing the model to assume an expert perspective helps it generate much more concrete, nuanced, and professional answers.
What is personalized learning?
AI enables adaptive, tailored educational experiences, which is especially helpful for accommodating diverse learning challenges.
What is the AI Lock-In problem?
As an AI generates more text, it can sometimes get "stuck" within a certain narrative it created, losing the ability to step back and look at the full picture objectively.
What is the AI alignment problem?
Alignment issues occur when an AI system pursues a goal or behaviour that fails to match the user's actual instructions or human values.
What is accountability?
System owners and educators must take ultimate responsibility for the AI's actions and the consequences it brings to students.
What is Chain-of-Thought prompting?
Forcing the AI to break a complex problem down into sequential steps significantly reduces errors and improves logic.
What is gamification (or interactive learning)?
Using AI to create highly interactive, immersive experiences can drastically increase student engagement and motivation.
What is the Automatic Prompt Engineer (APE) technique (or reverse prompting)?
When you know exactly what output you want but don't know how to ask for it, handing the hard work to the AI and asking it to generate the prompt for you is a brilliant workaround.
What is AI literacy?
Much like reading and writing, understanding how to responsibly and effectively navigate AI is becoming an essential 21st-century skill.
What is the loss of independent thought (or over-reliance on AI)?
Handing all heavy mental lifting over to machines deprives students of the opportunity to develop original thoughts and problem-solving skills.
What is Generated Knowledge prompting?
First prompting the AI to generate the necessary background knowledge before asking it to perform the final task improves accuracy and context.
How do you understand "AI and me, AI with me, AI in me"?
"AI and me" is using AI like a pocket calculator (as a separate tool). "AI with me" is bouncing ideas off the AI like a brainstorming buddy. "AI in me" is the sci-fi-level reality where we rely on it so much that our own critical thinking fades, and the AI's thoughts become our own.
What is "I am lucky!"
Everyone needs a little luck in a game! Enjoy your free 500 points and let's keep having fun!