Discuss Scratch

Elm0-_-
Scratcher
100+ posts

An AI assistant for Scratch?

AI is a really helpful tool, and it is the future. I was thinking maybe you could use an AI for Scratch similar to GitHub's Copilot. Since I use GitHub almost every day, the AI has definitely been helpful. Maybe we could use the same thing for Scratch. You can talk to it using only a safe chat, giving you prompts like “How do I program a ____ game?” where the blank can be filled with something of the user's choice. It will only be enabled when someone has the Scratcher status (like cloud variables).

Some limitations include:
- Scratch is used by people as young as 8, they may not understand it
- People could utilize it in such a way that they could have the AI building projects for them (not the art)

Thoughts?
NamePending_
Scratcher
100+ posts

An AI assistant for Scratch?

Support. However, there would have to be a way to prevent people from putting something inappropriate in the prompt.
Roblox888i
Scratcher
1000+ posts

An AI assistant for Scratch?

Mockup for contact us page:

Elijah999999
Scratcher
1000+ posts

An AI assistant for Scratch?

If the user can only input certain prompts, this might as well not be AI, and just write pre-written content.
RecessFailsOffical
Scratcher
1000+ posts

An AI assistant for Scratch?

You could have AI build a project that gets overly popular, while the actual creator having no skill at all. However, a good solution would be to show in the project that it was made by AI and what code or part of the project was made using it. If this is implemented, I feel a good [new] requirement for PPTBF studio would be that your project cannot use the AI extension.

Also, young people may not understand the concept of this and might get confused.

But… I can make a mockup for you.

Here's the extension:

AI: How do I make a () project? :: extension reporter

AI: Can you help me code ()? :: extension reporter

AI: Can you give me some good tips on ()? :: extension reporter

AI: Can you reference me a project that helps me do ()? :: extension reporter

AI: Can you reference a Scratch Wiki article that helps me do ()? :: extension reporter

AI: Am I aloud to do () based on the Community Guidelines? :: extension reporter

And the response would be:

AI: [Response Here; You can edit it if you like] :: extension reporter

Last edited by RecessFailsOffical (Feb. 13, 2024 12:20:51)

Elijah999999
Scratcher
1000+ posts

An AI assistant for Scratch?

(Response to #5, this post was made before the topic got merged.)
Shouldn't these be reporter blocks? And what would setting the AI's response do?

Last edited by Elijah999999 (Feb. 12, 2024 23:37:04)

Za-Chary
Scratcher
1000+ posts

An AI assistant for Scratch?

Elm0-_- wrote:

“How do I program a ____ game?”
What exactly would the response be?
Elm0-_-
Scratcher
100+ posts

An AI assistant for Scratch?

RecessFailsOffical wrote:

But… I can make a mockup for you.


Thank you for the mockups! You do raise a good point for PPTBF studios.

Za-Chary wrote:

What exactly would the response be?

If you wanted to make a basketball game or a simple platformer. Depending on what you enter in the prompt, it will generate some sort of block recommendations or tips on how to make the project you want.

yadayadayadagoodbye
Scratcher
1000+ posts

An AI assistant for Scratch?

Aside from all those “expensive” or “innacurate” responses, ill provide a new argument against AI assistants (this only applies to scratch, unlike the other two)

While AI is a useful tool which will likely become an important part of the programming experience of future programmers, reliance on AI early on is an extremely bad habit. Scratch is meant for a place to learn programming, and while true, many people do use it even after learning the basic logics its meant to teach, it is still ultimately a place to learn. An implementation of AI might benefit many users, however, it will also cause many others to develop a reliance on AI, and this reliance would likely lead to them not actually learning.

tl: dr AI nice but you don't learn alot form it

And yes, you can techinically learn from an AI, however, that is built on the assumption that you already know enough about the topic to realize if the AI was to say something outlandishly wrong. If someone who knows nothing of, say, chemistry, uses ChatGPT to do their chem homework, they will likely get a really confusing and innacurate (correct, but innacurate) explanation of compounds such as sulphate. The same applies here, if the AI were to give the user some strange answer thats incorrect or correct but in a really confusing and misleading way, it could be devastating to the user.
among_us1w2
Scratcher
1000+ posts

An AI assistant for Scratch?

yadayadayadagoodbye wrote:

Scratch is meant for a place to learn programming, and while true, many people do use it even after learning the basic logics its meant to teach, it is still ultimately a place to learn.
speaking facts fr fr fr fr m8
but tbh AI doesn't know a gobo about scratch if ykyk (ask it how to change scratch username)
josueart
Scratcher
100+ posts

An AI assistant for Scratch?

No support.

Although a Scratch Copilot would be cool, this isn't really the primary focus of Scratch, as mentioned by other people. AI models aren't very good at generating project.json code even with proper documentation and guardrails.

And, of course, the API cost. Let's say they use the gpt-3.5-turbo model, and that 3 million users use this feature twice in a month. This would end up costing about $1,950.

Last edited by josueart (Feb. 14, 2024 18:15:17)

Za-Chary
Scratcher
1000+ posts

An AI assistant for Scratch?

Elm0-_- wrote:

If you wanted to make a basketball game or a simple platformer. Depending on what you enter in the prompt, it will generate some sort of block recommendations or tips on how to make the project you want.
Such as? I can't imagine how one would be able to make an entire game just by seeing a couple of example blocks or written tips.
banana439monkey
Scratcher
1000+ posts

An AI assistant for Scratch?

absolutely not.
there has been at least one instance of a LLM swearing at its customers (i think it was dpd but i could be wrong)
unless i guess we can use the filter on its responses?

Orange
EngineerRunner
Scratcher
1000+ posts

An AI assistant for Scratch?

nobody has brought up the fact that if it's a safe chat where you can only enter into certain prompts, it would be way easier to just make tutorials for like, “how to make a platformer game” or “a clicker game”.

no support for this reason, and also every other reason against AI that other people have brought up.
Elm0-_-
Scratcher
100+ posts

An AI assistant for Scratch?

Za-Chary wrote:

Such as? I can't imagine how one would be able to make an entire game just by seeing a couple of example blocks or written tips.

The AI could tell the user how to program it correctly, by using its own generated guides. If this wasn't what you meant, please let me know.
The-Sushi-Cat
Scratcher
500+ posts

An AI assistant for Scratch?

yadayadayadagoodbye wrote:

Aside from all those “expensive” or “innacurate” responses, ill provide a new argument against AI assistants (this only applies to scratch, unlike the other two)

While AI is a useful tool which will likely become an important part of the programming experience of future programmers, reliance on AI early on is an extremely bad habit. Scratch is meant for a place to learn programming, and while true, many people do use it even after learning the basic logics its meant to teach, it is still ultimately a place to learn. An implementation of AI might benefit many users, however, it will also cause many others to develop a reliance on AI, and this reliance would likely lead to them not actually learning.

tl: dr AI nice but you don't learn alot form it

And yes, you can techinically learn from an AI, however, that is built on the assumption that you already know enough about the topic to realize if the AI was to say something outlandishly wrong. If someone who knows nothing of, say, chemistry, uses ChatGPT to do their chem homework, they will likely get a really confusing and innacurate (correct, but innacurate) explanation of compounds such as sulphate. The same applies here, if the AI were to give the user some strange answer thats incorrect or correct but in a really confusing and misleading way, it could be devastating to the user.

There can also just be issues with AI from human error. I won't mention the exact story, but a certain AI was turned very… Not Scratch friendly due to a single typo (This AI was NOT on Scratch) It's unsafe.
-InsanityGames-
Scratcher
500+ posts

An AI assistant for Scratch?

Use of AI was rejected by the Scratch Team back in August last year after they ran a closed test of image generation in Scratch Lab. It was rejected for multiple reasons and many of these apply to all forms of AI, such as inappropriate results and bias, as well as AI being extremely costly for a non-profit organisation like Scratch. This article explains why it was rejected.
Elm0-_-
Scratcher
100+ posts

An AI assistant for Scratch?

The-Sushi-Cat wrote:

There can also just be issues with AI from human error. I won't mention the exact story, but a certain AI was turned very… Not Scratch friendly due to a single typo (This AI was NOT on Scratch) It's unsafe.

-InsanityGames- wrote:

Use of AI was rejected by the Scratch Team back in August last year after they ran a closed test of image generation in Scratch Lab. It was rejected for multiple reasons and many of these apply to all forms of AI, such as inappropriate results and bias, as well as AI being extremely costly for a non-profit organisation like Scratch. This article explains why it was rejected.
There will only be a series of prompts to choose from, no typing allowed like the safe chat from Among Us. This is only an assistant for help on coding projects and asking questions about Scratch, and anything not Scratch friendly will be rejected by the AI.

Last edited by Elm0-_- (Feb. 13, 2024 20:19:30)

the_awsome_penguinja
Scratcher
500+ posts

An AI assistant for Scratch?

Elm0-_- wrote:

The-Sushi-Cat wrote:

There can also just be issues with AI from human error. I won't mention the exact story, but a certain AI was turned very… Not Scratch friendly due to a single typo (This AI was NOT on Scratch) It's unsafe.

-InsanityGames- wrote:

Use of AI was rejected by the Scratch Team back in August last year after they ran a closed test of image generation in Scratch Lab. It was rejected for multiple reasons and many of these apply to all forms of AI, such as inappropriate results and bias, as well as AI being extremely costly for a non-profit organisation like Scratch. This article explains why it was rejected.
There will only be a series of prompts to choose from, no typing allowed like the safe chat from Among Us. This is only an assistant for help on coding projects and asking questions about Scratch, and anything not Scratch friendly will be rejected by the AI.
just use preset responses instead of taking up server space by having an AI take time to generate inaccurate responses half the time

Last edited by the_awsome_penguinja (Feb. 13, 2024 22:15:20)

Elm0-_-
Scratcher
100+ posts

An AI assistant for Scratch?

Bump

Powered by DjangoBB