AI Vocabulary for Kids: 15 Words, Explained Simply

Little Thinkers AI Lab · 14 June 2026 · 2 min read

How AI worksGetting started

A little shared vocabulary goes a long way. When a child and parent use the same simple words for AI ideas, conversations get clearer and learning sticks. Here are fifteen essential terms, each in one plain sentence.

The core ideas

• Artificial intelligence (AI): teaching a computer to spot patterns and make guesses from examples.
• Algorithm: a step-by-step set of instructions, like a recipe.
• Data: the examples we show a computer so it can learn.
• Machine learning: when a computer gets better at a task by practising with data instead of being told exact rules.
• Model: the trained "brain" that makes guesses after learning.

How learning happens

• Training: the practising, where the model adjusts to make fewer mistakes.
• Testing: checking the model on new examples it did not practise with.
• Accuracy: how often the model gets the answer right.
• Label: the correct answer attached to an example ("this photo is a cat").
• Prediction: the model's guess about something new.

The clever machinery

• Neuron: a tiny decision-maker that weighs inputs and fires if they add up enough.
• Neural network: many neurons in layers, working together.
• Language model: an AI that predicts the next word, which is how chatbots write.

The important cautions

• Bias: unfairness that creeps in when the data leaves things out or is unbalanced.
• Hallucination: when an AI confidently makes something up that is not true.

See the words in action

Every term above appears, in context and at the right age, across our free courses. The parent guide has a fuller glossary, and the curriculum shows exactly where each idea is introduced.