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Chatbots and digital boundaries

Lesson details

Learning outcome

I can explain the difference between human and AI interaction and identify the risks of unhealthy digital "friendships".

Key learning points

  1. Using AI can be beneficial for specific tasks such as answering questions or generating ideas as a starting point.
  2. Unhealthy digital friendships occur when users treat AI tools as humans, over-relying on them for human connection.
  3. Maintaining digital boundaries involves recognising that AI is a tool and should not replace real-life relationships.

Keywords

  • Chatbot - a computer program that talks to people online and gives answers by predicting what to say next

  • Anthropomorphism - treating something that is not human as if it has human feelings or thoughts

  • Empathy - understanding how someone else feels and being able to imagine what it is like for them

Common misconception

An AI chatbot will give me the same advice as a real-life friend if I am asking for help.

An AI chatbot is a computer program. It has no feelings, no life experience and no true understanding of you.

Teacher tip

In Task B of this lesson pupils are asked to create a poster, there a number of options for this task. They could create the poster offline, they could create using desktop publishing software or if they have access you could ask them to generate some content for their poster using AI tools.

Licence

This content is © Oak National Academy Limited (2026), licensed on Open Government Licence version 3.0
except where otherwise stated. See Oak's terms & conditions
(Collection 2).

Lesson video

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Prior knowledge starter quiz

6 Questions

Q1.
What is a data centre?

a recycling centre for electronics
Correct answer: a facility that houses servers to process and store data
a type of AI software

Q2.
Why do data centres use water?

to generate electricity
Correct answer: to cool overheating servers
to clean computer screens

Q3.
Discarded electronic equipment is known as .

Correct Answer: e-waste, electronic-waste, e waste, ewaste

Q4.
Which task uses the most electricity?

searching for today's weather on a standard search engine
asking a friend next to you
looking up a definition in a textbook
Correct answer: using generative AI to write a 500-word story

Q5.
In 2022, training the GPT-3 model used approximately how much electricity?

enough to power 10 homes for a year
enough to power 50 homes for a year
Correct answer: enough to power 120 homes for a year

Q6.
Why does AI hardware create more e-waste than normal computers?

AI systems delete more files
Correct answer: AI hardware becomes outdated more quickly
AI does not need recycling

6 Questions

Q1.
What is the primary way an AI chatbot generates a response during a conversation?

it understands your feelings and thinks about the best advice to give
Correct answer: it predicts the most likely next word in a sentence using large amounts of data
it searches the internet to find a human who can answer your specific prompt
it uses a physical brain to process information exactly like a human does

Q2.
Which term describes the tendency to give human thoughts or feelings to non-human things, like a chatbot?

empathy
personification
anthropology
Correct answer: anthropomorphism

Q3.
Which of these might be a response a human might give, but a chatbot likely wouldn't?

providing a step-by-step list of how to solve a maths problem
translating a sentence into another language accurately
Correct answer: using sarcasm or relating to human experiences like wanting to go back to bed
summarising a long article about photosynthesis into a short paragraph

Q4.
Why might a chatbot say "I’m sorry to hear that" when you tell it you are feeling sad?

Correct answer: because it is programmed to be polite to keep users engaged
because it has experienced sadness before and knows how it feels
because it is connected to a human therapist who is typing the reply
because it truly cares about your wellbeing and wants to help

Q5.
Which of the following is a sign of an unhealthy digital friendship with an AI chatbot?

using the chatbot to help brainstorm ideas for a creative story
asking the chatbot to generate practice questions for a school test
Correct answer: choosing to talk to the AI instead of spending time with real friends or family
using a chatbot to simplify a complex news article for a project

Q6.
What is the most responsible thing to do if you are feeling lonely or worried?

ask a chatbot to be your best friend and tell it all your secrets
use a chatbot for social roleplaying to avoid talking to people
treat a chatbot’s outputs as facts to help you make life choices
Correct answer: seek out a trusted real person, like a parent, friend or teacher

To help you plan your 8 digital literacy lesson on: Chatbots and digital boundaries, download all teaching resources for free and adapt to suit your pupils' needs...