Unity says
Technology is changing faster than at any point in human history — and AI is at the centre of that change. Today we're going to find out what AI actually is, what it can and cannot do, and why the choices we make about it matter so much.
📖 The story
Read this story together. This topic moves fast — some of what is true today may change. Talk about that as you go.
Unity sat down at a computer and typed a question. Within seconds, a response appeared — detailed, well-written, and mostly accurate. She typed another question. Another response. She asked it to write a poem. It did. She asked it to explain quantum physics to a seven-year-old. It did that too.
"Is this intelligent?" she asked.
It is a good question — and the honest answer is: it depends on what you mean by intelligent.
Artificial intelligence, or AI, refers to computer systems that can do tasks that previously required human thinking — recognizing images, translating languages, writing text, making decisions. The AI tools available today are extraordinarily powerful. They can process more information in a second than a human could in a lifetime.
But AI does not think. It does not feel. It does not understand. It finds patterns in enormous amounts of data and uses those patterns to produce outputs that look intelligent. When it seems creative or wise, it is reflecting the creativity and wisdom of the millions of humans whose words and ideas it was trained on.
That matters. Because AI can be wrong — confidently wrong. It can reflect the biases in the data it was trained on. It can be used to spread misinformation, to manipulate people, or to make decisions that affect people's lives without any human accountability.
The question is not whether to use AI — it is already part of all our lives, in our phones, our search engines, our hospitals, our schools. The question is how to use it well. With curiosity. With critical thinking. With an understanding of its limits. And with a commitment to keeping humans — with all our messiness and empathy and moral responsibility — in charge of the decisions that matter most.
"A tool is only as good as the person using it," said Unity. "And only as safe as the person who built it."
💬Talk and think
This is a topic where adults often know less than they think they do — approach it as genuine mutual exploration.
- What AI tools have you already used — even without knowing it? Can you name three?
- What do you think AI should never be allowed to do — and why?
- If AI can write essays and answer questions, what do you think is still important for humans to learn and be able to do for themselves?
🔍Explore more
Take a few minutes to read through these facts. The misinformation point is worth spending extra time on — it is the most practically important issue for young people today.
- What is AI? Computer systems that recognize patterns in data to do tasks that used to require human thinking
- Already in your life: Recommendation algorithms, voice assistants, spam filters, and face recognition all use AI
- Large language models: AI tools like chatbots are trained on enormous amounts of human-written text
- AI and jobs: Some jobs will be automated — others will change, and new ones will be created
- Misinformation risk: AI can generate false text, images, and video that look completely real
- NZ and AI: New Zealand is developing policy on the safe and ethical use of AI in government and education
🤝Test it and question it
Do this together on a device. The goal is healthy skepticism — not fear or uncritical enthusiasm.
Open an AI tool together and ask it three questions: one that you know the answer to, one that is a matter of opinion, and one that is very recent news.
Check the answers. Was it right? Was it confident even when it was wrong? Did it give an opinion when asked? Did it know about recent events?
Talk about what you discovered: when is AI useful, when is it unreliable, and what does that mean for how you should use it?
