Our project will answer three interrelated questions: Do youth engage with artificial intelligence (AI) in intellectually virtuous ways? How can people engage with these tools in intellectually virtuous ways? Can reflecting upon experiences with AI help youth understand and develop intellectual virtues? To answer these questions, we will conduct an observational study of youths’ interactions with AI, conduct a philosophical investigation of intellectually virtuous usage of AI, develop educational experiences using AI that are meant to foster intellectual virtues, and conduct a randomized controlled trial to assess the effectiveness of our interventions.
AI can change how people develop intellectual virtues, so it is imperative that we study this now. We believe there could be unique affordances to AI in helping foster intellectual virtues, which may otherwise go unnoticed. We will disseminate a set of educational resources involving AI-based experiences for fostering intellectual virtues and publish several research articles in philosophy and education. Our project will provide insights on how to approach intellectual virtue education as our relationships with technology and knowledge evolve, which we hope will impact the future of both character education and AI education.
