AI Discoverers · Ages 7–9
Guess the Next Word
Explore how language models make predictions.
01 · Read the story
Meet Mina and Sami
Sami reads: 'The cat drinks ...' Several words could come next. He looks at the sentence for clues.
02 · Discover the idea
What can we learn?
Many language models predict the next token - a word or piece of a word - from context. Repeating this can produce sentences. A fluent sentence can still contain mistakes.
About this activity: Your selections here are prewritten examples; no online language model runs.
03 · Try a word prediction
How can context change a prediction?
Change the sentence, compare the possible next words, and pick a word. More than one answer can make sense.
Sentence
The cat drinks ...
What word would you choose?
Example prediction weights
These classroom numbers are invented to help explain probabilities. They are not generated by a live language model.
Choose a word and see how the context matters.
Important: The bars are hand-written teaching examples, not model measurements. Language models predict tokens, which can be word pieces, and a plausible prediction is not proof of truth.
04 · Review what happened
Choose, check, and explain.
There is no timer. If you make a mistake, learn from the explanation and try another question.
You explored all three questions! ✨
05 · Try it together
Family activity
Write three sentence beginnings. Let family members predict the next word, and talk about why different guesses can all be reasonable.
06 · Reflect
Talk about it
Can a sentence sound confident even when it is incorrect?
No answers are collected or sent anywhere. An adult can guide the conversation.