Researchers at the University of Washington asked if artificial intelligence can learn cultural values by watching people, similar to how children learn. Earlier work showed that some young children raised in Latino and Asian households were more likely to help others.
For the study, adults who identified as white and adults who identified as Latino played a modified cooking game. The AI watched players and used a method that infers goals from behavior. Players could give onions to help another player but then deliver less soup themselves.
People in the Latino group helped more, and the AI trained on that group showed more helping in the game and in a later donation test.
Difficult words
- artificial intelligence — Computer systems that can learn and make decisions
- cultural values — Important ideas and rules in a group
- infer — To guess a goal or meaning from actionsinfers
- behavior — The actions people do in a situation
- donation — Something given to help others, often money
- identify — To say you belong to a particular groupidentified
Tip: hover, focus or tap highlighted words in the article to see quick definitions while you read or listen.
Discussion questions
- Do you think children learn values by watching people? Why?
- Would you give onions to help another player if you got less soup? Why or why not?
- Do you think AI can learn helpful behavior from watching people? Give one reason.
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