🤝 Should a Computer Decide?
Who says yes, who says no, and who has to explain.
🔥 Warm Up — 2 minutes
Ask: “Should a computer choose who gets into your school? Who wins a race? What you have for dinner?” Sort them into yes, no, and it depends.
“The question is not whether computers are clever. It is who has to explain the answer.”
🤖 The Activity — 15 minutes
Play lending. You are the computer, your child is a person asking to borrow 100 pretend rupees. Say no, and give no reason at all.
Let them react. Then swap — they are the computer, and they must say no and give a reason a person could argue with.
Ask: “Which no was easier to accept? Which one could you do something about?”
🧩 The Twist — 5 minutes
Now the hard one. They say no, and you ask: “Why?” — and they must answer “I do not know, the computer said so.”
Ask how that feels. That is why real rules say a person must be able to explain a decision about you, and why a reason nobody can give is not a reason.
Explainer Badge
Learned that a decision you cannot explain is not good enough
Parent Notes — tap to expand
▼That explainability is a right rather than a nicety, and that automated decisions about people need a human who can account for them.
- What should happen if the computer cannot explain its answer?
- Should you be able to ask a person to look again?
- Is a fast wrong answer better than a slow right one?
This session often lands harder than expected, because being refused without a reason is something most children have already experienced somewhere.
Worth saying plainly: nobody should ever ask your child for money, and no real service lends money to children. If anything online offers them money, coins, or credit, that is a scam — which is the next session.