Stretch tasks The wider impact of computing

Round 1: Quiz Blitz

1. New jobs often need different skills, in different places, from the ones lost The people who lose jobs are often not the people who get the new ones.
2. Training a large AI model uses a lot of electricity; Data centres need enormous cooling Electricity and cooling are costs. The other three are real benefits.
3. AI helping to design more efficient materials A good answer weighs both: computing costs energy, and it can also save it.
4. True Location, purchases and searches together reveal routines, interests and identity.
5. Who benefits? → Who bears the cost? → Who decided, and were the people affected consulted? → What would need to be true for this to be acceptable? Answering all four turns an opinion into an argument.
6. Checkout staff whose hours are cut The benefits go to the business and some shoppers; the costs fall on the staff.
7. Who benefits, and who bears the cost? Technology is rarely simply good or bad. It is good for some people and costly for others.
8. False It creates jobs too, but often needing different skills, in different places.
9. Together they reveal routines, interests and identity in detail Each piece is small. Together they are a detailed portrait.
10. automation Automation is behind self-checkouts, warehouse robots and translation software.
11. Elderly customers without internet skills Name the specific group: that is what turns a vague point into a strong one.
12. Weighing who benefits and who pays, then reaching a reasoned judgement Both sides, named groups, and a judgement with reasons.

Round 2: Quick Fire

1. • The new jobs often need different skills
   • They appear in different places, so the people who lose jobs are not the ones who gain
   Model answer

   The new jobs often need different skills from the jobs that were lost, and they appear in different places, so the people who lose their jobs are not the people who benefit.

2. • A benefit, such as video calls replacing flights or less paper
   • A cost, such as electricity use, e-waste or mining
   Model answer

   A benefit is that video calls replace flights, cutting emissions. A cost is the huge amount of electricity used by data centres.

3. • Those affected often have no say in decisions made by companies
   • Asking them can reveal harms and make the outcome fairer
   Model answer

   Decisions about technology are usually made by companies, and the people most affected often have no say. Consulting them can reveal problems the decision makers had not noticed, and make the outcome fairer.

4. • It uses a huge amount of electricity, as much as several households use in a year
   • Much of it comes from fossil fuels, and the data centres need cooling
   Model answer

   Training one large model can use as much electricity as several households use in a year. If that electricity comes from fossil fuels it adds to carbon emissions, and the data centres also need constant cooling.

Round 3: Big Think

1. • Benefits: the shop saves money and shoppers in a hurry save time
   • Costs: checkout staff lose hours or jobs, and some older customers lose help
   • Decided by the company's managers, usually without asking staff
   • Acceptable if staff are retrained and staffed tills or help remain
   Model answer

   The shop benefits, because it saves money on wages, and so do shoppers in a hurry, who get through more quickly. The cost falls on checkout staff, whose hours or jobs are cut, and on older customers who would rather be served by a person. The decision is made by the company's managers, usually without consulting the staff affected. It would be more acceptable if staff were retrained for new roles and some staffed tills were kept, so customers still have a choice.

2. • Employment: computing creates new jobs and makes work more efficient
   • Employment: jobs are lost, and the new ones need different skills
   • Privacy: personalised services are convenient and useful
   • Privacy: data is combined into detailed profiles, enabling surveillance
   • Environment: video calls replace flights, and AI improves efficiency
   • Environment: electricity use, mining and e-waste
   • Benefits and costs fall on different people
   • A reasoned conclusion
   Model answer

   In employment, computing creates new jobs and makes work far more efficient, but automation also replaces jobs such as checkout staff, and the new jobs need different skills. Personalised services are convenient and useful, yet the data behind them is combined into detailed profiles that make surveillance possible. For the environment, video calls replace flights and AI improves efficiency and weather prediction, but data centres use enormous amounts of electricity, devices need mining, and e-waste is toxic. The benefits and costs also fall on different people: the benefits often go to companies and well-off users, while the costs fall on workers and poorer countries. On balance, I think the benefits can outweigh the costs, but only if the people who bear the costs are protected.

This or That

1. Mostly different people from those who lost jobs New jobs often need different skills in different places, so the people affected are not the people who benefit.
2. Training a large AI model Training one large model can use as much electricity as several households use in a year.
3. By predicting extreme weather AI is used to predict extreme weather and design more efficient materials.
4. They run all the time and need cooling Data centres run continuously and need enormous cooling.
5. Who bears the cost? Ask who benefits, who bears the cost, who decided, and what would make it acceptable.
6. Privacy More of life is recorded than ever, including our movement through streets covered by cameras.
7. Less carbon from travel Replacing flights with video calls is one of the environmental benefits of computing.
8. It depends who benefits and who pays The useful question is not good or bad, but who benefits, who bears the cost and who decided.

Memory Match

• A 5 Automation: Machines doing work people used to do
• B 6 Privacy: Control over information about yourself
• C 1 E-waste: Discarded electronics with toxic materials
• D 3 Data centre: Runs constantly and needs enormous cooling
• E 4 Rare earth metals: Mined materials used to make devices
• F 2 Smart heating: Cuts energy use by heating only when needed