Independent project. Not a U.S. government website.

USASI

Jump to

Start hereFour ways into the catalogCompanies & LabsU.S. AI organizationsOpen Models & ToolsOpen models, software, datasets, and evaluation toolsLearnExplainers and learning pathsFor kidsAI and Super Intelligence, explained for readers 8 to 12Latest newsSourced news itemsPolicy trackerFederal AI laws, orders, and standards

For parents and teachers

About the lessons for kids

How the lessons were made, what they say about super intelligence, and how to use them at home or in class.

What these lessons are

Seven short lessons for readers about 8 to 12, meant to be read with an adult. Each one has a big idea, a few short sections, a hands-on activity, a "Remember" list, and a three-question quiz, and takes about five minutes. The lessons cover what AI is, how it learns, what "super intelligence" means, what AI can and cannot do, using AI safely and kindly, how people test and govern AI, and the many kinds of work around it.

Why lesson 3 explains two meanings of "super intelligence"

Since September 29, 2026, Executive Order 14434 has directed federal agencies, to the extent the law allows, to use "Super Intelligence" and "SI" in place of "artificial intelligence" and "AI" in their own documents. The order defines the new terms by the statutory definition of artificial intelligence at 15 U.S.C. 9401(3) (external site: law.cornell.edu), so for now it renames the same technology rather than describing a new one. The order also asks for proposed legislative language for a federal definition within 60 days, so the meaning could change, and statutes themselves still say "artificial intelligence."

Children may also hear "superintelligence" used for a possible future AI far more capable than people. That is the sense of Nick Bostrom's 1998 paper How Long Before Superintelligence? (external site: nickbostrom.com), and companies such as Safe Superintelligence Inc. use the word for their goals. Lesson 3 explains both meanings and says plainly that nobody knows if or when the second kind will exist.

How the lessons were made

The lessons were written with an AI assistant from USASI's sourced explainers, catalog records, and official documents, then checked against those sources by a separate AI fact-checking pass, and corrected where that pass found wording that went beyond the sources. They have not been reviewed by a teacher or a child-development specialist. An automated check keeps the sentences in the children's text short. Each lesson ends with a "For grown-ups" section that lists its sources. If you find an error, or anything that seems unsuitable for children, please send a correction.

Before a child uses an AI app

AI services set rules in their terms about who may use them, and some are for adults only; for example, Google's Gemini API terms require users to be 18 or older. Before a child uses an AI app, check its terms, its privacy settings, and whether conversations are used to train models. What happens to what you type into an AI service describes published policies from Anthropic, Google, and Microsoft and explains the settings to look for.

Ideas for talking together

  • After lesson 2: when a chatbot sounds sure, how could we check whether it is right?
  • After lesson 3: what should a very capable AI be allowed to do, and who should decide?
  • After lesson 4: what is one thing you would never let an AI decide for you?
  • After lesson 5: make the family AI plan from the activity, and put it where everyone can see it.
  • Any time: it is fine to say "I don't know, let's find out together," and then check a trusted source.

Privacy on these pages

The children's pages themselves contain no accounts, sign-ups, comments, advertisements, share buttons, or requests for tips; the site-wide menu and footer still link to other parts of the site. Quiz answers stay in the browser and are not saved or sent anywhere. Like the rest of the site, the pages are delivered by a hosting provider and may be measured by cookie-free Cloudflare Web Analytics, as the privacy page explains. The site sets no cookies.

Using the lessons with a class

The lessons are free to use. The classroom packet puts all seven on one printable page with paper quizzes, the word list, and an answer key, and each lesson page has its own print button. Their original text is licensed under Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 (CC BY 4.0), so you may copy and adapt the activities and quizzes with this credit: "Source: USASI catalog (unitedstatesofamericasuperintelligence.com), CC BY 4.0." See the reuse terms.

For adults who want to go further

The Learn section has 22 sourced explainers for adults. Good places to start are the New to AI learning path, How large language models work, and How AI developers test models for safety.