Module 1: Making Friends with AI

Let's learn what AI is and how to start talking to it!

Learning Objectives

  • Understand what AI is in simple terms
  • Learn what prompts are and why they matter
  • Discover how AI "thinks" and responds to our questions

What is AI?

AI stands for Artificial Intelligence. That's a fancy way of saying "computer programs that can learn and think a bit like humans do." You might have already used AI without even knowing it!

Examples of AI you might know:

• Siri or Alexa that answer your questions

• Games where computer characters make decisions

• Apps that can identify what's in a photo

• ChatGPT or other chatbots that can have conversations

AI is like a super-smart robot brain, but it doesn't think exactly like humans do. It learns by looking at lots and lots of examples. For instance, if an AI sees thousands of pictures of cats, it learns what cats look like and can identify them in new pictures.

AI learning from examples

But here's the important thing to remember: AI doesn't actually "understand" things the way you do. It doesn't have feelings or experiences. It's more like it's really good at spotting patterns and making predictions based on what it has seen before.

What are Prompts?

A prompt is simply the question or instruction you give to an AI. It's how you tell the AI what you want it to do.

Think of prompts like giving directions to someone who is visiting your town for the first time. If you give clear, detailed directions, they'll find their way easily. But if your directions are confusing or missing important details, they might get lost!

Example:

Vague prompt: "Tell me about animals."

Better prompt: "Tell me three interesting facts about elephants that a 7th grader would find cool."

The second prompt is better because it's more specific. It tells the AI exactly what you want to know (interesting facts about elephants), how many facts you want (three), and who the information is for (a 7th grader).

Prompt engineering is the skill of creating good prompts that help AI understand exactly what you want. It's like learning a special language to talk to AI friends!

How AI "Thinks"

Let's imagine how AI works with a fun analogy:

Imagine you have a friend named Alex who has read every book in the world but has never left their house. Alex is super smart about facts and can make connections between different things they've read, but they don't have personal experiences like going to the beach or eating ice cream.

When you ask Alex a question, they quickly search through all the books they've read to find relevant information. Then they put together an answer based on patterns they've noticed across many books.

AI works in a similar way! It's been "trained" by looking at lots of text from books, websites, and other sources. When you give it a prompt, it:

  1. Tries to understand what you're asking
  2. Searches through its "memory" for relevant information
  3. Creates a response based on patterns it has learned
AI thinking process

This is why the way you ask questions (your prompts) is so important! If your prompt is confusing, the AI might misunderstand what you're asking for.

The AI Conversation Game

Talking to AI is like a game where you and the AI take turns. You go first with a prompt, then the AI responds, then you can give another prompt, and so on.

Here's what this conversation game looks like:

You: "Can you tell me about space?"

AI: "Space is the vast area beyond Earth's atmosphere. It contains planets, stars, galaxies, and much more. Our solar system is just a tiny part of the Milky Way galaxy, which itself is one of billions of galaxies in the universe..."

You: "What's the biggest planet in our solar system?"

AI: "Jupiter is the biggest planet in our solar system. It's so large that more than 1,300 Earths could fit inside it!"

Each time you give a new prompt, the AI uses both your current prompt and the previous conversation to figure out what to say next. This means you can have a back-and-forth conversation that builds on itself!

Let's Test Your Knowledge!

Time for a quick quiz to see what you've learned about AI and prompts.

Question 1: What is a prompt in AI?

  • The question or instruction you give to an AI
  • The computer that runs the AI program
  • The answer that AI gives you
  • A type of robot that uses AI

Question 2: How does AI learn?

  • By analyzing lots of examples and finding patterns
  • By going to school like humans do
  • By having feelings and experiences
  • By reading one book at a time

Question 3: Which of these is a better prompt?

  • "Write a short poem about a blue dolphin swimming in the ocean at sunset"
  • "Write something"
  • "Poem please"
  • "Tell me about water animals"

Create Your First Prompt!

Now it's your turn to practice writing a prompt. Let's try a simple exercise:

Imagine you want the AI to help you with your homework about animals. You need to learn about an animal's habitat, diet, and one interesting fact.

Practice with Promptie

Hi! I'm Promptie. Can you write a prompt asking me about an animal? Remember to be specific about what information you want to know!

After you write your prompt, think about these questions:

  • Did you specify which animal you want to learn about?
  • Did you clearly ask for habitat, diet, and an interesting fact?
  • Did you mention who the information is for (a student)?

What We Learned

  • AI (Artificial Intelligence) is like a computer brain that learns from examples
  • A prompt is the question or instruction you give to an AI
  • AI doesn't think exactly like humans - it finds patterns in data it has seen
  • Clear, specific prompts help AI understand what you want
  • Talking to AI is like a conversation game where you take turns

Great job completing Module 1! In the next module, we'll learn how to make our prompts even clearer and more specific.

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Promptie

Great job learning about AI! Remember, I'm here if you have questions!