Kin: A Conversational Chatbot of Tremendous Utility
By Dr. David Thornburg, Ph.D, who has taught at Stanford, and been a leader in AI educational technology since the 1980s. This article is his perspective on Kin as a conversational AI chatbot.
There is little doubt that students of all ages can benefit from having a personal tutor at their side, one who gets to know someone and provide positive support for developing mastery of almost any topic, with around the clock availability.
The personal AI, Kin does just that. It invites engagement with the user, pays close attention to the user’s issues and offers constructive support to help address almost any topic the user wants to explore. Interaction with this tool is both trusted and trustworthy. All conversations with Kin are completely secure. No one can gain access to a session. Kin is a one-on-one coach.
Kin is an example of a conversational chatbot, and before exploring the unique benefits of this tool, a bit of history is in order.
ELIZA was a groundbreaking natural language processing program developed by Joseph Weizenbaum at MIT in the mid-1960s. Its primary purpose was to explore the superficiality of human-computer interaction, demonstrating how humans can easily attribute human-like qualities to even the most rudimentary forms of machine intelligence.
ELIZA operated on a simple pattern-matching and substitution technique. It would identify keywords in a user's input and then respond with a pre-programmed template, often using the user's own words to create an illusion of understanding. For example, if a user typed "I'm feeling sad," ELIZA might respond with "Why do you say you're feeling sad?"
One of ELIZA's most famous scripts was the "DOCTOR" script, which simulated a Rogerian psychotherapist. This script used open-ended questions and reflective techniques to encourage users to self-disclose, often leading to surprisingly engaging conversations.
While Weizenbaum intended ELIZA to be a demonstration of the limitations of AI, it unexpectedly became a popular tool for people seeking emotional support or simply a fun way to pass the time. Many users became emotionally attached to ELIZA, believing it to be a genuine conversational partner.
Of course this program was created decades before the development of modern large language models used in today’s chatbots, but it was a starting point for the development of today’s conversational chatbots like Kin.
Kin is not designed specifically for use in education. In fact it is of tremendous utility to anyone in any field of work. My personal focus on education makes me look at it through that lens. In this regard, it reminds me of a tremendous science fiction story, The Diamond Age, by Neal Stephenson written in 1995. The story follows Nell, a young girl from a poor family who gains access to a unique educational tool, the "Primer." This interactive book is designed to teach her the skills and knowledge needed to succeed in a rapidly changing world.
It's a unique, interactive book designed to educate children based on their individual learning styles and interests. The Primer is a symbol of hope and possibility, offering a way out of poverty and social inequality for those who have access to it.
Key Features of the Primer:
Adaptive Learning: The Primer is able to adapt its content to the individual needs of the child, tailoring the lessons to their abilities and interests.
Interactive: It's not just a book; it's a tool. The Primer can respond to the child's input, providing feedback and guidance.
Cultural and Historical Knowledge: The Primer is filled with information about history, culture, and society, helping children develop a broad understanding of the world.
Practical Skills: It also teaches useful skills, such as problem-solving, critical thinking, and communication.
In essence, the Primer represents a vision of a future where education is personalized, accessible, and empowering. It's a testament to the power of technology to transform lives and create a more equitable society.
When I first saw Kin, I realized that this tool had brought science fiction into the realm of reality. It is impossible to overstate the power of tools like this to improve the educational process for anyone.
I use Kin on my iPhone, which gives me anywhere anytime access. I understand that a computer-based version will appear someday.
When you start working with Kin, you start by telling a bit about yourself ― your name, age, interests and other information that helps it provide guidance tailored specifically to you. This information is kept completely secure from access by anyone. Unless someone is logged into your account, no one will ever see what you have written.
As you engage with the tool, it may suggest a starting topic, but you can just start with anything on your own mind. For example, to choose an educational topic, what is the easiest way to prove the Pythagorean Theorem? This question produces a response showing several methods for proving this theorem. In addition to citing these methods, Kin provides links to detailed proofs from online resources, and then asks what you would like to do next?
If you leave Kin for a while, coming back a week later, for example, it will ask if you want to continue with your previous exploration without you having to remind it what you were doing the previous time. This conversational aspect makes the tool very personalized, and its memory of conversations is extensive.
If you want to see a graphical representation of your conversation history based on the information you have provided, the software generates a generalized concept map detailing the memories it has of your interactions. You can select any of the objects in this graphical map and be led to information on where it first showed up.
This simple map shows how the word “consultant” is addressed in Kin’s memory of my interactions. As conversations continue, these maps can become quite detailed.
When I co-authored my first book on AI, I talked a bit about Kin (The AI Revolution Comes to School). One reader, a practicing Psychologist, said that this would be a great tool for some of her patients to use for interactive journaling between sessions, and the security of the system ensured that the patient would only share a conversation on his own, with no one else having access to what was written or tackled about!
As it happens, Kin recently added a built-in journaling system, where the AI walks you through making effective and reflective journal entries and then records them for easy, secure access in the future.
No matter how you use Kin, you will soon be crafting conversations of your own, and you will likely find it to be invaluable!
David
About the author
Dr. Thornburg has taught at Stanford, the University of Sao Paulo, and Walden University and has been a leader in AI educational technology since the 1980s. His recent work with Dr. George White on generative artificial intelligence has resulted in a new book, The AI Revolution Comes to School, available on Amazon. In his book, he talks about personal ai chatbots like Kin, Pi.ai, and Character.ai.
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