Software engineer who built lessons on AI for kids was ‘terrified’ into action

Mohamad Alhamoud, a software engineer at Amazon, felt "terrified" when he saw his Grade 3 son ask an AI chatbot to complete his homework. This incident spurred Alhamoud to develop kid-friendly lessons on AI literacy, coding, and mathematics, which he hosted on his platform, Codora (codora.school). The Winnipeg-based engineer, who previously worked on the Manitoba Institute of Trades and Technology's computer science program, created over 170 interactive lessons for students aged 5 to 18.

These lessons cover topics such as online privacy, verification, AI training, and the potential of AI to improve accessibility and inclusion.

The roughly two-hour program is a requirement for Grade 9 and 10 students at the University of Winnipeg Collegiate this fall. Nick Janzen, a geography and history teacher at Linden Christian School, advocates for a similar setup to protect and empower young people when using AI systems. He has incorporated elements of Alhamoud's program into his own lessons, emphasizing problem-solving and independent thinking.

Alhamoud enlisted the help of Canada Computing, an IT services company in Winnipeg, to develop his AI courses. His own children, Khaled and Joud, have served as "little quality assurance testers" for the program, helping to identify and fix any issues. Alhamoud's goal is to ensure students understand why AI can provide confident but incorrect answers, a phenomenon known as chatbot hallucinations.

The Manitoba government has expressed support for Alhamoud's approach, emphasizing the importance of teaching students to use AI as a "thinking partner" to generate ideas and explore its implications.