Lesson 2 · AI Around Us

AI Detective

Sort everyday systems into fixed rules, likely AI, or not enough information.

Easy~12 minFree chapter

Concept

Detective mode: on 🔍

Some machines follow fixed rules — they do the exact same thing every time. Others use AI — they learn from examples and make guesses.

Today your job is to tell them apart, like a detective reading clues.

Concept

Three detective verdicts

For any system you meet, you can give one of three verdicts:

Fixed rules — someone wrote exact instructions; no learning, no guessing.
Likely AI — it learns from lots of examples and improves or predicts.
Not enough information — you honestly can't tell yet, so you'd investigate more.

Example

The case files

System	Verdict	The clue
Calculator	Fixed rules	2 + 2 is always 4
Spam filter	Likely AI	Learns from millions of emails
Shop recommendations	Likely AI	Guesses from what you viewed
How a chess piece moves	Fixed rules	Written down, never changes
A brand-new app you just saw	Not enough info	Investigate before deciding

Quick Checkpoint

Give your verdict

Quiz

A spam filter gets better over time by learning from millions of emails that people mark as spam. Your verdict?

Try it

Investigate your own phone

Pick three apps on your phone. For each, give a verdict — fixed rules, likely AI, or not enough info — and one sentence of evidence for your verdict.

Challenge

Rules or AI? You decide

Give one school problem where simple fixed rules work better than AI, and one where AI could genuinely help. Explain each choice in a sentence.

This chapter is free — open this lesson in your portal to save your answers and track progress.