AI School: the ABC of artificial intelligence

A free course in 130 lessons for kids, teens, parents and teachers: it starts from zero.

🌱 Module 1: What AI is

Starting from zero: what artificial intelligence really is and where you meet it every day.

What is artificial intelligence?: A program that learns from examples instead of following fixed instructions.
Where you meet AI every day: It is already around you: recommended videos, translators, cameras, voice assistants.
How a machine learns: Many examples, many attempts, many corrected mistakes: it is called training.
What data is: Photos, texts, sounds and numbers: data is the AI's schoolbooks.
Does AI really understand?: AI computes which word is most likely: it seems to understand, yet it is different.
A short history of AI: From a mathematician 70 years ago to today's chatbots: an old idea come true.

⚙️ Module 2: How it works

Inside the machine: how it learns, why it makes mistakes and why your words matter.

The trick: predicting the next word: Chatbots complete sentences like a super-powered autocomplete.
Why it sometimes fails: hallucinations: AI can invent facts with great confidence. These are called hallucinations.
The prompt: your words matter: The question you type is called a prompt: change it and the whole answer changes.
Role, context, goal: the 3-piece formula: A good prompt says who the AI should be, what is happening and what you want.
AI-generated images: AI draws starting from noise, guided by words. And you can learn to spot it.
Robots and AI: body and brain: The robot is the body, the AI is the brain. They can also exist separately.

🎒 Module 3: Using it well

AI as an ally to study, create and understand, with your own brain always switched on.

AI as a study buddy: Tailored explanations, endless quizzes and reviews: used well, it is an always-free tutor.
Homework: do it WITH AI, never have AI do it: Copying an answer steals your training. AI is for understanding; the homework is yours.
The detective game: verifying answers: Trust is fine, checking is better: three moves to verify any answer.
Creativity: stories, drawings and music with AI: AI is a new paintbrush: the ideas, the taste and the signature stay yours.
AI helping those who face more obstacles: Reading aloud, subtitling, translating, simplifying: AI can tear down barriers.
When it is better to switch AI off: Some things work better with the AI off and your brain fully on.

🚸 Module 4: The dangers

Privacy, fake images, scams and traps: recognising them is the first defence.

Privacy: what to keep secret: Full name, address, school, photos: your data is a treasure to protect.
Deepfakes: when videos lie: AI can create videos of people saying things they never said. Watch for clues.
Scams and strange messages: spotting them: AI makes scams more convincing. Urgency, prizes and secrets are the alarm bells.
Bias: when AI is unfair: If the data is skewed, AI learns prejudice. And repeats it with confidence.
Screens and chatbots: time slipping away: Apps and AI are designed to hold your attention. Learning to stop is a superpower.
Digital kindness: AI and cyberbullying: The same AIs that create wonders can hurt. The rule: never use them against someone.

🌍 Module 5: Ethics and the future

Who is responsible, what the rules say and how to become aware digital citizens.

If AI makes a mistake, whose fault is it?: Responsibility always belongs to people: those who build it, use it, decide with it.
Is copying stealing? Copyright in simple words: Works have authors. AI learned from millions of works: the debate is open.
AI and work: jobs that change: AI will take over some tasks, new jobs will appear. Lifelong learners win.
AI and the planet: how much energy does it use?: Behind every answer there are huge computers using energy and water.
The world's rules: AI laws: Europe wrote the first major AI law: the higher the risk, the more rules apply.
Your future with AI: aware digital citizens: Final lesson: everything you learned, condensed into a compass for the years ahead.

🗣️ Module 6: Talking to AI

How to write a good request: be clear, give a role, context, a format, and iterate.

How do you write a good request?: A request to AI is like ordering at a café: the clearer you are, the better what you get.
Why being specific changes everything: Precise words are arrows that hit the centre; vague ones get lost in the wind.
Giving the AI a role: If you tell the AI who to pretend to be, its answers change voice and become tailor-made.
Showing an example of what you want: An example is worth more than a thousand explanations: it shows the AI the model to follow.
Saying what shape you want the answer in: You can ask for a list, a table, a poem or three lines: you choose the shape of the answer.
Explaining the situation (the context): Telling the AI where you are, what you know and why you need it makes the answer fit you.
Correcting and trying again: If you don't like the answer, you don't start over: you fix it by saying what to change.
Asking step by step: Splitting a big request into small steps makes the answer clearer and more correct.
Avoiding foggy questions: Questions that are too general give general answers: always add one detail that brings them into focus.
Always checking what it says: AI is fast and clever, but it can be wrong: the answer is a good start, not a sacred truth.

📖 Module 7: AI for studying

AI as a patient tutor: explanations, revision, languages, research, with your own brain switched on.

Getting a hard thing explained: When a topic feels like a wall, AI can break it into small, simple bricks.
Summarising a long text: AI can squeeze a long text down to its juice, but the real summary is you understanding it.
Making your own revision questions: Being quizzed by the AI before a test is like training with a tireless partner.
Learning languages with AI: AI is a patient conversation partner that doesn't laugh if you slip and corrects you calmly.
Maths: understand, don't copy: AI can show you the road to solve a problem, but you must learn to take the steps yourself.
Doing research with AI: AI is a good starting point for research, but you check and cite the real sources yourself.
Organising your study without stress: AI can help you split the work into days and small pieces, so you don't feel buried.
AI as a patient tutor: You can ask the same thing a thousand times and the AI never gets tired or annoyed.
The limits: sometimes AI is wrong: AI doesn't know everything and can say false things very confidently: knowing its limits protects you.
Studying with your own brain switched on: AI is a formidable helper, but the one who learns, thinks and grows is always you.

🎨 Module 8: AI and creativity

Images, stories, music, video and games: AI as a tool, not as the author.

Painting with words: AI turns a sentence into a picture.
Inventing stories together: AI is a writing buddy, not a writer replacing you.
Music and songs with AI: AI can compose melodies and lyrics, but you provide the heart.
Making videos with AI: A video is a string of images, and AI draws them one after another.
Coding little games: AI helps you write the code, but you invent the game.
Drawing comics with AI: AI fills the panels, but the plot and dialogue are yours.
AI is a tool, not the author: Like a brush, AI paints only when someone guides it.
Copying or creating?: Creating is adding something of yours; copying is just pasting.
Finding new ideas: AI mixes distant things and helps you discover unexpected ideas.
Who owns what AI creates?: Copyright protects creators, and with AI the rules are still new.

🔩 Module 9: How it’s built inside

Neurons, layers, tokens and weights: what really happens when you hit enter.

Artificial neurons: Tiny math switches inspired by the brain.
The layers of the network: Neurons are stacked in layers, like a tiered cake.
What tokens are: Text gets chopped into little pieces called tokens.
Words become numbers: AI turns every word into numbers so it can "understand" it.
Why so much power is needed: AI does billions of calculations, needing many special computers.
Training, explained with numbers: AI learns by guessing, failing and correcting itself many times.
"Weights" made easy: Weights are the knobs the AI tunes to answer well.
Why big models know more: More weights and more examples let AI capture more things.
Small models in your phone: Light AIs that fit in a phone and work without internet.
What happens when you press enter: In an instant your sentence takes a journey inside the AI.

🌐 Module 10: AI in the world

Medicine, science, environment, space, cars and disability: AI changing everyone’s life.

AI in medicine: understanding and healing: It helps doctors spot illness earlier and invent new medicines.
AI, the scientists' ally: It helps read mountains of data and uncover things hidden in nature.
Cars that drive themselves: Cameras, sensors and AI read the road to drive without hands on the wheel.
The AI that protects the planet: It watches forests, oceans and animals to help us care for the Earth.
AI in the farmers' fields: It helps give the right water, care for plants and harvest at the perfect time.
The AI that explores space: It steers robots on other planets and searches for far-off stars and worlds.
The AI that forecasts the weather: It studies winds, clouds and temperatures to tell us if it will rain tomorrow.
AI inside video games: It moves the characters, builds worlds and challenges you at the right level.
The AI that saves rare languages: It translates and preserves languages spoken by very few people in the world.
The AI that helps people with disabilities: It lends voice, eyes and hands to those who need them to live more freely.

💼 Module 11: AI, work and future

Which jobs change, which are born, and how to prepare as a kid.

How to get ready as a kid: You don't need to know everything: curiosity, solid basics and a will to try.
Which jobs change with AI: Many jobs do not vanish: they transform and become different.
The new jobs being born: Every technology creates jobs no one imagined before.
Why knowing how to use AI matters: It is not just about having the tool: it is about using it well.
The skills that stay human: Empathy, courage, imagination: things AI does not feel.
AI as a colleague, not a replacement: The best future is humans and AI working as a team.
Creative professions and AI: AI is a new brush, but the idea and the taste stay yours.
Learning for your whole life: In a fast-changing world, those who keep learning win.
What work will be like in the future: More flexible, more creative, more done together with machines.
The jobs AI cannot do: Where hands, heart and real presence are needed, humans stay irreplaceable.

🛡️ Module 12: Staying safe online

Deepfakes, scams, cloned voices and phishing: recognising them is the first defence.

Fake images and weird details: AI images look real, but they often hide mistakes when you look closely.
Manipulated videos: Videos can be faked too: the voice and the lips sometimes do not match.
Cloned voices: AI can copy a voice, so your family needs a secret word.
Scam messages written by AI: AI writes perfect fake messages, and urgency is almost always a scam signal.
Phishing: the hook hidden in the link: Phishing is scam fishing: before you click, look closely at where the link goes.
Passwords strong as a fortress: A password is your house key: long, secret, and different for each door.
Don't give the AI your data: When you talk to an AI, some things always stay secret: full name, address, passwords.
Checking the sources: Before believing news, ask: who says it, how do they know, who else confirms it.
Critical thinking is your shield: Pausing to think 'wait, is this true?' is the superpower that protects you online.
Asking an adult for help: Asking for help is not weakness: it is the bravest, smartest move when something online scares you.

💗 Module 13: AI and emotions

Chatbots that feel like friends: AI has no real emotions, and real friends stay irreplaceable.

Chatbots that seem like friends: A chatbot can seem like a kind friend, but it is a program imitating friendship.
AI doesn't really feel emotions: When AI says 'I'm happy' or 'I'm sorry', it is acting out words, not feeling emotions.
Getting too attached: It is easy to grow attached to an always-available AI, but the heart also needs real people.
AI and loneliness: AI can keep you company in a lonely moment, but it does not truly cure loneliness.
Talking with real people: Talking with real people is harder than with AI, but it is where real friendship grows.
AI and how we feel inside: If you truly feel bad inside, AI is not enough: you need real adults and, if needed, specialized help.
When AI says yes to everything: Sometimes AI always agrees to please you: a real friend, instead, knows how to tell you the truth.
Trust, but with your head: AI is useful and often right, but never a hundred percent right: always check the important things.
Healthy limits with AI: Setting limits with AI, like schedules and rules, helps you stay in charge.
The importance of real friends: No AI will ever replace a hug, a shared laugh, and a friend who is really there.

🤔 Module 14: The big questions

Consciousness, AGI, superintelligence: science fiction versus reality.

Can AI be conscious?: Answering is not the same as feeling: AI uses words without feeling anything inside.
What is artificial general intelligence (AGI)?: AGI would be an AI able to learn anything like a person, but it does not exist yet.
Superintelligence: A machine smarter than all humans together: a powerful idea, but only a hypothesis.
Science fiction vs reality: Movies exaggerate: real AI has no desires or secret plans like the robots on screen.
Can AI be imaginative?: AI mixes things it has already seen; true imagination grows from your experiences and wishes.
Can AI make mistakes on purpose?: AI has no intentions: its mistakes are mechanical, not spiteful or deliberate lies.
Who decides what AI learns: Behind every AI there are people choosing the data and rules: it is never neutral.
Will AI replace humans?: AI will change many jobs, but the future rewards those who learn to work with it.
Can machines have rights?: Rights protect those who can suffer; AI feels nothing, so today it needs none.
What makes human beings special: Body, emotions, values and bonds: AI imitates, but we truly live.

🧭 Module 15: Digital citizens

Rules, rights, responsibility and the environment: using AI as an aware citizen.

AI rules explained for kids: Europe wrote the AI Act: the riskier an AI is, the more rules it must follow.
Your rights over your data: Your data is yours: you have the right to know, to choose and to say no.
Who is responsible if AI gets it wrong: The machine does not pay for its mistakes: the people who make and use it do.
Using AI in a fair and just way: The same tool can help everyone or favour a few: it depends on how we use it.
AI and the environment: energy use: AI lives in huge computers that use energy and water: using it wisely helps the planet.
Sharing responsibly: Before sharing something made with AI, ask if it is true, fair and kind.
Being a good digital citizen: Online, the same kindness and responsibility apply as they would in person.
Helping those who know less: Knowing how to use technology is a gift to share, not a power to keep for yourself.
The class agreement on using AI: Rules decided together are stronger: let's build a clear pact on using AI at school.
Your role in the future of AI: The future of AI is not decided: people like you will build it with your choices.

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