June 7: Computational Thinking

 Coding

Learning to use Python 2 for the first time

Before today, I knew almost nothing about coding and programming. The last time I touched a computer science class was in elementary school, but today I successfully did some programming with Python. I started from the ground up with Code Academy and learned the basic Python syntax. I learned that there are many things that you can do through writing code. These operations include printing text in the console, creating True and False statements, and even using it as a calculator!

I completed the Python Syntax and Strings and Console Outputs sections, and barely started the Conditionals and Control Flow section

AI

Learning about ChatGPT's User Biases

 Yesterday we read two articles that described AI's inherent user bias: Artificial Intelligence Has a Problem With Gender and Racial Bias. Here’s How to Solve It, Why algorithms can be racist and sexist. These sources showed that AI systems can be intentionally or unintentionally biased based off of the materials that they are trained with, such as only giving facial recognition programs information from one demographic. This bias is dangerous in multiple ways. First, the continuation of this incomplete training is hindering AI's full potential to function properly. Second, by not including information about certain demographics in the system's training, these groups are either recognized less or purposefully neglected by AI. In order for programs such as ChatGPT to give unbiased and helpful information, we must begin training these programs with wider arrays of sources.