  The capabilities of generative AI (genAI) have dramatically increased in
recent times, and there are opportunities for children to leverage new features
for personal and school-related endeavors. However, while the future of genAI
is taking form, there remain potentially harmful limitations, such as
generation of outputs with misinformation and bias. We ran a workshop study
focused on ChatGPT to explore middle school girls' (N = 26) attitudes and
reasoning about how genAI works. We focused on girls who are often
disproportionately impacted by algorithmic bias. We found that: (1) middle
school girls were initially overtrusting of genAI, (2) deliberate exposure to
the limitations and mistakes of generative AI shifted this overtrust to
disillusionment about genAI capabilities, though they were still optimistic for
future possibilities of genAI, and (3) their ideas about school policy were
nuanced. This work informs how children think about genAI like ChatGPT and its
integration in learning settings.
