TOLEDO, Ohio — On Saturday, a book party was held at University of Toledo to celebrate new authors.
There's a twist however, the young authors used artificial intelligence to create their books.
A Toledo non-profit, Empowered AI, introduced elementary-age kids to AI, so they can get become familiarized with the technology and enjoy the fun of creating and publishing their own book in just one week.
For these kids, AI is something they're still getting used to. But then again, everyone is.
The class at the Brady Engineering Innovation Center at the University of Toledo was billed as a way to get the next generation to get comfortable with AI from an early age.
One of the teachers for the program says they work with kids from ages 7 to 12 for two weeks and help them publish their own books using AI.
"Today was the final day to have those published books on display," said teaching artist Brandon Slewion.
So how does it work?
The kids don't write the words or create the images.
Instead they put simple prompts into AI-powered programs to do the work for them.
They put a simple prompt into chatGPT to get the story and the images of the book are generated on an application called Leonardo.
Then they print out the finished work and assemble it together.
Brandon Slewion, one of the teachers for the program, says it's great to see kids 12 and under become published authors.
"It's amazing. You know, you wish you had those type of opportunities when you were a kid, but giving these kids a chance to be published authors and entrepreneurs at the same time is knocking some stones out early, knocking some birds out early," said Slewion.
However, there are some concerns about AI-generated content. A recent Harvard Business Review article
speculates that in the next few years problems could arise.
"Human writers, producers and creators [could be] drowned out by a tsunami of algorithmically generated content, with some talented creators even opting out of the market," stated Harvard Business Review.
And AI isn't always perfect of course, sometimes images or text can be incorrect or have misleading or wrong info. Even the sample book WTOL 11 was provided by this group had some sentences and images that simply didn't make sense.
Slewion believes using AI doesn't stifle creativity but rather is just another way to tap into it.
"So like with technology, you want them to not be hesitant and get engaged with new things coming up. AI and the books, it's kind of a good way to introduce them to, I guess, them controlling the powers of technology for their own vision and stuff like that," said Slewion.
All of the AI books that were at the event are available on Amazon.
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