Age of AI¶

Goal¶

Students create a timeline for the history of artificial intelligence.

Time¶

15’

Concepts¶

I believe the history of computing is important cultural knowledge. You can use the game as an energizer.

Of course, you could discuss the concept of rank or have students research the topics on the cards, but this is not what I do.

The Game¶

In the game Anno Domini, the players create a timeline of events. I borrowed the idea and created a classroom set with 21 cards featuring important events in computing, Machine Learning and some trivia. Each card has a front side with a short description and a back side with a year and explanation. Below you find printable and editable documents.

The Events¶

The following questions work for a shorter warm-up: ask your class to sort the events chronologically (you might build a small HTML tool for the sorting). I recommend using 10 at a time. Here is the solution

Margaret Hamilton prints out the complete source code of her program. The stack of code matches her own height.

Linus Torvalds publishes code for the Linux kernel in an online newsgroup.

The team of Grace Hopper finds a bug in the Mark II computer at Harvard University.

Guido van Rossum creates the Python programming language, "a 'hobby' programming project that would keep [him] occupied during the week around Christmas".

Unix computers start counting time in seconds until today.

The first algorithm, a program to calculate Bernoulli numbers, is published.

Linear Regression is used to fit a straight line to a set of points.

A robot plays 12 different songs on the flute.

A computer beats the world champion in chess.

An artificial neural network is trained to learn the structure of a family tree.

The first pedestrian is killed by a self-driving car.

A test to distinguish an artificial intelligence from a person is described.

Maria, the oldest member in the Robot Hall of Fame by Carnegie Mellon University is created.

Two robots present the "Special Achievement" Oscars at the Academy Award ceremony.

Amazon is convicted to pay a 746 million € fine for placing browser cookies.

Microsoft switches off its chatbot after only 16 hours for racist and abusive messaging.

Sci-fi author Isaac Asimov writes down the Laws of Robotics.

Netflix awards a 1 million USD prize for the best recommendation engine.

The first version of Microsoft Word is released.

The internet connects 15 computers.

A man is convicted to a four-month jail sentence for playing Tetris on a plane.

Print Materials¶

How to Play¶

The objective of the game is to place the cards in the correct chronological order using the description on the front side. The relavtive position is what matters, you do not need to guess the exact year. Then you flip the card and check your guess. A correctly placed card gets you one point.

shuffle the cards
place the cards with the years face-down
place the first card on the table and read it
then turn it over so that you have a starting year
the first player (or team) reads the top card.
the player decides where it fits on the timeline (a team should reach consensus)
reveal the side with the year
if the position is wrong, move the card to the correct place
continue with the next card

Lesson Plan¶

explain the rules
create 2+ teams
set a clear time limit
moderate the game or have the participants play by themselves
stop when the time runs out

Reflection questions¶

As a wrap-up, you could discuss the following questions:

What was the earliest fact in your timeline?
What was the most surprising thing you found out about?
What did you know how to place for certain in your timeline?

Variation¶

The Age of AI game also works with an entire class divided into 2 teams. Moderate the game and attach the cards on a board.

If you print several decks of smaller cards, you should be able to organize multiple tables of 3-4 players.

It is not necessary to play through the entire deck. 10-12 cards should be enough. Save the rest for another session.