Tom Yeh

How will AI shape the next generation?

Anonymous — Fri, 03 Nov 2023 18:38:34 +0000

How will AI shape the next generation? Anonymous (not verified) Fri, 11/03/2023 - 12:38

Grace Wilson

Stepping into the Center for the Brain, A.I., and Child (BAIC), discussions vary from how ChatGPT is influencing parenting, to using generative AI art for student expression to how children could use chatbots for storytelling and what culturally sensitive AI development means.

The lab's eclectic, cross-disciplinary environment focuses on how AI will impact the next generation of children and their caretakers around the world, as generative AI becomes a new normal.

The lab has two centers. One, at the University of Colorado Boulder, is headed by Tom Yeh, a professor of computer science and the other center is led in close collaboration by Pilyoung Kim, a professor of psychology at the University of Denver.

Hopes for the research

The hope of the lab, Yeh explained, is that by asking and answering as many questions as they can around child development and AI, the lab can encourage ethical guardrails and culturally-specific AI protocols.

"Beyond ChatGPT, I'd like us to think about how our children are developing in this environment," Yeh said. "It used to be that children didn't have to watch for cars when they crossed the street, but suddenly they had to learn, and it's the same with AI. There's a reconfiguration of our society happening," he explained.

Let's meet some lab members to get a better sense of what the BAIC lab is working on.

Cornelius Adejoro, 2nd Year PhD student

Cornelius Adejoro (PhD'27) is a second year PhD student whose work focuses on culturally sensitive AI and technology for vulnerable children and those in the global south.

Explaining what culturally sensitive AI means for him, he said, "It means inclusion, it means fairness, incorporation and an equitable society–helping others to make maximum use of these technologies by upholding their cultural values."

One of Cornelius Adejoro's first projects in the lab was an essay contest with students in Nigeria, where he engaged middle school students in Nigeria through a writing contest to share their thoughts on what they hope AI can do for them as a way of shaping the future of AI. He explained that many students were hopeful for better translation between languages.

"Nigeria has over 500 spoken languages, so a class of 50 students could have 50 languages," he said.

Cornelius Adejoro said that being part of the lab has been a positive experience. "Tom creates a system that keeps you going. We meet often and I have a receptive advisor who is ready to listen, whatever the idea is. Even if we have individual work, we often meet in teams to allow for collaboration," he said.

Larissa Schwartz, 1st year PhD student

Larissa Schwartz is both part of BAIC and the ATLAS Institute. Schwartz is a professional graphic designer, and was previously a visual arts and design instructor for public education in Denver and Houston. She said she began researching and wondered if generative AI art was being used ethically in education.

She was able to work with the BAIC lab to pilot a generative AI art competition for more than 50 high school students in Aurora Public Schools. The students created art through traditional mediums and then used that same artistic idea to prompt DALLE-2, an AI system that can create images and art from a written description. The two pieces were then displayed next to each other and the students’ work was presented at the ATLAS Institute's projects expo in May.

Last year, Schwartz completed her master’s degree from the ATLAS Institute, with Yeh as her thesis advisor before she began her PhD this year.

"He connected me to people who were so helpful with the things I wanted to build and create, and he really listened to the things I wanted to do as a student and in the future, in terms of my PhD and working in industry," she said.

Seungwook Lee, 2nd year Masters student

Seungwook Lee is part of a research project in BAIC that questions what the right way to use Generative AI in future generations is.

"We want to minimize the potential harm to children's education," he said, explaining that data suggests over 40% of teachers in the United States are already using ChatGPT in their classrooms.

The project is to use generative AI to bring out children's creativity by using storytelling. He is working on the part of the research that controls generative AI prompts to be emotionally safe and creative for children.

"It's important to know first if using these models impacts the child, before deciding how to go ahead," he said.

The goal is to study how large language models affect children using brain scans and interviews. Based on the results, Lee will be designing methods for fine-tuning a large language model to more safely support children's creativity.

Step into the Center for the Brain, A.I., and Child (BAIC) and learn from its members how AI will impact the next generation of children and their caretakers around the world, as generative AI becomes a new normal.

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Video - ChatGPT: Fear, Hype, or Hope? Education and research practices and ethics in the generative AI era

Anonymous — Thu, 20 Apr 2023 23:26:18 +0000

Video - ChatGPT: Fear, Hype, or Hope? Education and research practices and ethics in the generative AI era Anonymous (not verified) Thu, 04/20/2023 - 17:26

Grace Wilson

Three leading experts discuss how the disruptive and powerful elements of ChatGPT and other generative AI stand to transform our world. Jim Martin clarifies what a large language model like ChatGPT actually is, Diane Sieber urges the creation of norms around the usage of these tools while Tom Yeh focuses on its potential impacts on education.

[video:https://youtu.be/6nkKFmFOoOE]

Panelists:

Jim Martin (Department of Computer Science and Institute of Cognitive Science), an expert on natural language processing and large language models
Diane Sieber (Herbst Program for Engineering, Ethics & Society), a pioneer in education bridging technology, humanities and arts
Tom Yeh (computer science), a leading researcher in human-computer interaction who has studied the use of generative AI in introductory programming and K-12 settings.

Moderator:

Bobby Schnabel, external chair of computer science, founding director of the ATLAS Institute and former CEO of the Association for Computing Machinery.

Through this panel discussion attended by over 300 people from the university and general public, hear from leading experts on the technical areas underlying ChatGPT and other generative AI, the uses of generative AI in university and K-12 education, and the ethical and societal issues associated with generative AI tools.

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Making family game night accessible for all kids

Anonymous — Tue, 25 Feb 2020 16:30:29 +0000

Making family game night accessible for all kids Anonymous (not verified) Tue, 02/25/2020 - 09:30

The Build a Better Book project, which started in Assistant Professor Tom Yeh's lab, takes a different approach to science, technology, engineering and math (STEM) education.

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Two CS faculty members win prestigious NSF CAREER Awards

Anonymous — Wed, 18 Mar 2015 06:00:00 +0000

Two CS faculty members win prestigious NSF CAREER Awards Anonymous (not verified) Wed, 03/18/2015 - 00:00

This year, the College of Engineering and Applied Science has an unprecedented number of National Science Foundation CAREER award winners, with seven junior faculty earning this prestigious honor. Two of them – assistant professors Aaron Clauset and Tom Yeh – are from the Department of Computer Science.

Clauset, whose research interests include network science, will use his award to develop practical methods for extracting new knowledge directly from large, messy real-world networks, and for quantifying the relationship between network structure and network metadata. The project will enable new progress on fundamental questions about the structure and function of gene interaction networks, online social networks and many more.

For Yeh, who specializes in human-centered computing, the CAREER award will allow him to continue his research into utilizing 3D printing to create adaptive, tactile picture books for blind children during emergent literacy. His research could change the way tactile pictures are made available to visually impaired children – a parent or a teacher will be able to download a digital 3D model of a tactile picture book, adapt the model for a particular child, 3D print the model and read the resulting one-of-a-kind book with the child.

Congratulations to Aaron and Tom!

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Tom Yeh named Faculty Member of the Year

Anonymous — Fri, 01 Aug 2014 06:00:00 +0000

Tom Yeh named Faculty Member of the Year Anonymous (not verified) Fri, 08/01/2014 - 00:00

Congratulations to assistant professor Tom Yeh, who has been chosen to receive the 2014 Student Affairs Faculty Member of the Year Award! The CU-Boulder Division of Student Affairs gives the award annually to faculty members who demonstrate outstanding engagement with students and who make substantial contributions to Student Affairs.

Yeh was nominated by students Adam Cardenas, Michael Skirpan, Ester Vasiete, Vicki Everts, Abigale Stangl and Austin Longo. In their letters, they highlighted Yeh’s:

Willingness to engage a diverse research group that connects students with others on campus and within the industry. For example, he created a research group with four women and two men that also included three students with visual impairments.
“Flipped classroom” approach where the learning occurs outside the classroom and “where students can see themselves as co-creators of knowledge … and are encouraged to learn about new areas to become a multidisciplinary professional.”
Efforts to develop student leadership by deliberately creating and supporting opportunities for students to lead research groups and facilitate classroom discussions.

“He gave space within discussions for different perspectives to be heard and considered, and through questioning would provide a perspective to reconsider notions and methods before shedding his experience on the issue,” one nominator said.

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