I-Corps: Artificially Intelligent Dialogic Reading Aid

这个i-Corps项目的更广泛的影响/商业潜力是开发一种人工智能(AI)驱动的工具，照顾者和早期教育工作者可以使用该工具来增强幼儿阅读的学习影响。这项技术很重要，因为每三个孩子中就有一个从幼儿园开始就没有做好学习阅读的充分准备。这些早期阅读差异不仅与个别儿童的学业、经济和健康结果有关，而且还在国家层面上产生了影响。据估计，成人识字率低可能每年给美国造成2.2万亿美元的个人收入损失、就业减少、健康状况恶化和整体经济增长疲软。这个项目的主要目标是开发一种阅读工具，帮助减轻这些负面结果。该工具的成功开发和商业化预计将促进儿童的入学准备和早期识字，这为以下方面奠定了基础：1)更大的学术成就，2)更高的高中毕业率，3)改善经济和健康结果。4)国家层面的巨大经济和社会效益。这个i-Corps项目的基础是开发一种人工智能工具，该工具将在联合读书的背景下促进主动对话参与，而不是被动倾听。这项技术在共享阅读过程中的适当时间生成特定于故事的提示，供成年人用作对话开始。用户将能够选择提示的难度级别和内容，以适应个别读者的技能、目标和兴趣。这项技术还将能够以任何语言运行，从而最大限度地扩大潜在覆盖范围。广泛的访谈将产生来自最终用户和潜在分销商的数据，以指导这一早期扫盲干预工具的开发和商业化战略。这些访谈将集中在三个客户群：1)幼儿的父母(特别是那些面临社会经济、语言或健康相关挑战的人)，2)早期教育利益相关者(例如，学龄前教师、图书馆和其他注重识字的非营利性组织和政府机构)，以及3)儿童文学出版商和零售商。该奖项反映了NSF的法定使命，并通过使用基金会的智力优势和更广泛的影响审查标准进行评估，被认为值得支持。

The broader impacts/commercial potential of this I-Corps project is the development of an artificial intelligence (AI)-driven tool that caregivers and early educators can use to enhance the learning impacts of reading with young children. This technology is important because one in every three children begins kindergarten insufficiently prepared to learn to read. Not only are these early reading differences associated with individual children's academic, economic, and health outcomes, but they also have implications at the national level. By some estimates, low levels of adult literacy may cost the United States $2.2 trillion annually in lost personal income, lower employment, poorer health, and weaker overall economic growth. The primary goal of this project is to develop a reading tool that can help mitigate these negative outcomes. Successful development and commercialization of the tool is expected to promote children's school readiness and early literacy, which lays at the foundation for: 1) greater academic success, 2) higher rates of high school graduation, 3) improved financial and health outcomes. and 4) substantial economic and social benefits at the national level.This I-Corps project is based on the development of an AI tool that will facilitate active conversational engagement, as opposed to passive listening, in the context of joint book reading. The technology generates story-specific prompts at opportune times during a shared reading session for adults to use as conversation starters. Users will be able to select the difficulty level and content of prompts to accommodate the skills, goals, and interests of individual readers. The technology will also be able to operate in any language, thereby maximizing potential reach. Extensive interviews will generate data from both end-users and potential distributors to guide the development and commercialization strategies for this early literacy intervention tool. These interviews will focus on three customer segments: 1) parents of young children (especially those facing socioeconomic, linguistic, or health-related challenges), 2) early education stakeholders (e.g., preschool teachers, libraries, and other literacy-focused non-profit organizations and government agencies), and 3) children's literature publishers and retailers.This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.