The influence of elementary school students’ anthropomorphism of AI on the attitude and the career hope toward AI

Objectives This study intends to explore students’ anthropomorphism, attitude, and career hope about AI in order to get implications for AI literacy education. Methods This study conducted interviews with 27 elementary school students in the fourth to sixth grades who had the experience of AI education. We analyzed the interviews not only in a qualitative way but also in a quantitative way by quantifying the interviews and carrying out Fisher’s exact test in order to explore the relationships among anthropomorphism, attitude, and career hope about AI. Results Elementary school students were likely to perceive AI as creative as a human being although they somewhat disagreed that AI had emotion, self-willingness, and general intelligence. This study found individual differences in the anthropomorphism of AI, which influenced students’ attitude toward AI. Students, who believed that AI had emotion, were more likely to have a positive attitude toward the future life with AI. In addition, students with the positive attitude were more likely to have a career hope in the area of AI. Conclusions These findings imply that more research and education regarding the anthropomorphism of AI are necessary in elementary schools. Teachers need to help elementary school students to reflect on their previous beliefs and attitudes toward AI through authentic learning experiences with AI.