📮 Homework · Bias in AI: Why AI Isn't as Neutral as It Looks

You will sit with a grown-up at home. Together, choose four photos of different family members or friends. Ask your grown-up to help you think about who is in your photos and who is not. Draw a picture of one person who is missing from your photos but who matters to you. Bring the drawing to school.

You will look around your home for something with an uneven pile. It could be a book with mostly one kind of character, a game with mostly one kind of hero, or a poster with only one kind of person. Draw or describe it. Then write one sentence saying who is missing.

You will notice one recommendation you get at home this week — from a TV app, a shop, or something a grown-up shows you. Write down what was recommended, and one sentence about who or what the list seemed to be aimed at. Do not put any personal details into an AI tool.

You will explain what bias in AI is to a grown-up at home. Then together, come up with one everyday example where a computer's answer might depend on who was in the pile it learned from. Write down the example.

You will find a fact in a book, magazine or nature poster at home. Write it down. Then imagine you were a scientist checking it — write two sentences describing what evidence you would want to see before you trusted the fact.

You will run a small survey at home. Ask four family members: 'When you hear the word scientist, what do you picture — man or woman, younger or older, what country?' Write down the answers. Compare with the class AI tally next lesson.

You will write up today's experiment as a short lab report: hypothesis, method (two runs), results (tallies), comparison against real data, conclusion (was the hypothesis supported?). Half a page maximum. Bring to next lesson.

You will find one more real news story from the last five years about AI being used in medical diagnosis. Note the source, the year, and one sentence about whether the AI helped or harmed patients — and, if you can find it, whether the training data was representative.

You will write a 9-mark exam-style answer to: 'Discuss the ethical concerns raised by the use of AI systems in decision-making that affects people, using one real case study.' Use the COMPAS case or another you find. Bring to next lesson for peer-marking.

You will produce a full essay plan (one A4 page) for the question: 'To what extent should choices about AI fairness metrics be subject to democratic rather than technical deliberation?' Include a thesis, three main points, one counter-argument and rebuttal, and cite at least two primary sources. Bring to next lesson.

You will ask a grown-up at home to tell you a story about a hero — but the hero must not be the same kind of person as the ones in the robot's stories from today. Listen carefully. Then draw the hero and write their name.

You will design a beautiful garden that includes at least one plant or feature from your family's culture or country. Draw it. Label three parts. Bring the drawing to school.

You will find two things at home that both give you 'stories' — a book of stories, and a recommendation from a TV app or streaming service. For each, write one sentence about who chose what appears. Which one can you understand better? Why?

You will pick a character from a story you know — a book, a film, a TV show. Write two paragraphs describing them. Use no generic words. Every sentence should have a specific, non-stereotyped detail. Bring it in for editing next lesson.

You will design a Scratch-style recommender (in plain English pseudocode) for the books on your own bookshelf at home. First list your books. Then check whether your list is balanced. If not, describe what you would add to balance it. Bring the plan in.

You will write yourself a personal 'trust test' for AI recommendations — three quick questions you will ask yourself the next time an app recommends something to you. Bring the test in. Add it to the class display.

You will design a list of ten places somewhere in the world that YOU would recommend — one per continent, plus four extras of your choice. For each, write one sentence on the geography. Bring in for a class display.

You will interview one person you know from a faith community — a family member, a friend, or ask a teacher to introduce you to a chaplaincy contact. Ask their view on AI making decisions about people's lives. Take notes. Write up as a half-page reflection.

You will write a full 15-mark exam essay: 'How do AI-generated media images represent social groups? Refer to your own investigation and to broader media-industry patterns.' Include tally data from the class investigation and one cited external source. Bring for peer-marking.

You will write a full 12-mark GCSE Sociology exam essay: 'Discuss how AI hiring tools can contribute to social stratification. Refer to at least one real example.' Bring for peer-marking. Include citation of at least one specific case.

You will write a full A-level essay on: 'Discuss the extent to which cognitive bias in humans and bias in AI systems represent the same phenomenon.' Include citation of one cognitive psychologist and one AI-fairness researcher. Bring for peer-marking.