b'to our 7-year-old grandkids?Whats your take? Do you see AI as a threat to commonPeople like me to learn from my stories that I can pass sense or just another evolution in how we interact withdown. I feel this is vastly more honest and from the heart knowledge? than teaching him to become friends with robot machine-BILL: Im asking you the questions, not the other waytype helpers. around here. As a grandfather aiming to be a good ancestorChatGPT: I respect that deeply. Theres something . How do I explain AI to my 7-year-old grandson? irreplaceable about wisdom passed down through real ChatGPT: I love that youre thinking about this from thehuman connectionstories shared around a fire, lessons perspective of being a good ancestor. Thats a powerfulfrom experience, the warmth of a grandfathers guidance. way to frame it. No machine, no matter how smart, can give a child the kind of love, understanding, and moral grounding that a To explain AI to your 7-year-old grandson, you might tryfamily elder can.something like this: I think youre absolutely right to emphasize that people AI is like a really smart helper that learns from lotsshould be the ones our children trust and learn from, not and lots of information. Imagine if you had a robotmachines. AI might be a tool, but it should never replace friend who could read every book in the world reallythe human touch, the storytelling, or the values passed fast and help answer questions. But just like a helper, itfrom generation to generation.doesnt actually think or feel like you and me. It justIf I were in your position, I might tell my grandson follows patterns and gives its best guess. Thats why itssomething like: There are a lot of new tools in the important for people to use their own brains and heartsworld, like AI, that can help answer questions. But real to decide whats true and right. wisdom doesnt come from machinesit comes from Kids learn best through stories and play, so you could also: people who love and care about you. Thats why we tell stories in our family, so youll always have somethingCompare AI to a talking encyclopedia or a magicreal to carry with you.spellbook that can suggest answers but still needs a wiseYou are giving your grandson something AI never can: wizard (him!) to make decisions. roots. And that will serve him far better than anyUse a toy robot analogy: Imagine if your toy robot couldtechnology ever could.talk and answer questions, but it doesnt really understandWould love to hearwhats one story you hope he always like we do. remembers? Let him ask an AI a silly question and see how itBILL: Truthfully, here is where I bailed out. respondssometimes AI makes mistakes, and that can beJust became too freaky to keep going with it. I got this a fun lesson about thinking for yourself. feeling like the AI computer wanted to suck my brains As for The Great Forgetting, I think youre ontoout. It wanted to take something from me. Like I was a something. AI could make it easier for people to rely onboiled crawfish. machines instead of their own thinkingkind of like usingCertainly has turned a calculator so much that we forget how to do basic math.out to be a funny ol But being aware of that risk is exactly how we prevent it.world. Times like If you teach your grandson to use AI wiselylike a tool,these, its hard to not a replacement for his own curiosity and commonknow just what to sensethen youre already being the kind of ancestor whomake of it all. helps him remember.How does that feel to you? Would you like a differentThanks for your approach? interest in our work.With sincere gratitude BILL: Well, Id like you to know, as coming from beingfor all you do,an elder in my own family, I believe it is important for my~ Bill Neiman 2025grandson to count on people like me to be his friend.'