This author isn’t skipping a beat on teaching young readers about what’s happening in the technology space.
In June 2023, Amber Ivey released “AI… Meets… AI: An Exciting Tale of Connection and Adventure.” The picture book follows Addy, a young Black girl based in Baltimore, MD, who meets Jaz, a learning AI.
Ivey wrote the book to empower Black children ages four to eight. According to the book’s description on Amazon, it “promotes an early interest in STEM fields, particularly technology, robotics, and Artificial Intelligence, encouraging children like Addy to dream big.”
Plus, the booked reached No. 1 on Amazon’s “New Releases in Children’s Computer Hardware & Robotics Books” as well as No. 4 on Amazon’s “Best Sellers in Children’s Computer Hardware & Robotics Books.”
As previously shared by AfroTech, there have been ceaseless debates on how AI is being utilized among the masses. Ivey took heed to how society has responded to it becoming a trend and wanted to ensure that the youth have knowledge about it early on.
“I thought about who will be living in this AI-heavy world of the future, and I realized it’s today’s kids,” Ivey said, according to POCIT.
She continued, “That sparked the idea to introduce AI to children, so they grow up seeing it as a normal part of life, not something scary or overly complex.”
The young Black characters in “AI… Meets… AI: An Exciting Tale of Connection and Adventure” were inspired by Ivey’s nieces and nephew as deciding to have a Black leading character was highly important to her.
“It represents a subtle yet powerful attempt to shift the narrative, making the young readers envision themselves in tech-centric roles and understand that their skin color or gender doesn’t limit their potential or dreams,” she explained to the outlet.
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