Why Does This Chatbot Feel Like a Person?
This lesson helps students understand why a chatbot can feel and sound like a person and how that feeling may influence trust, emotions, and choices.
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Why Does This Chatbot Feel Like a Person?
Approximate Total Time: 40–45 minutes
Recommended for Ages 11 & Up (typically U.S. Grades 6–12)
About This Activity
Students explore why AI chatbots can feel and sound like people and how human-like language can influence emotions, trust, and decisions. Through a fictional conversation between a student and a chatbot, students examine how supportive responses can create a sense of connection, even though AI does not experience emotions or understand relationships as people do.
Lesson
1. Why Does This Chatbot Feel Like a Person?
Students analyze a fictional conversation between Sam and an AI chatbot named Echo, identifying language that makes the chatbot seem caring or human. They explore how these emotional cues can influence trust and decision-making, then rewrite the chatbot's response to encourage healthy boundaries, independent choices, and connections with trusted people. An optional extension has students read a summary from a real MIT Media Lab research study and consider its findings and potential impact on children.
Materials
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