When AI meets ABCs, what could go right? Dr. Carla explores the messy, funny, innovative future of AI and childhood.
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Platforms are finally trying to put up guardrails against slop. YouTube announced changes to its Partner Program to choke off automated view farms by doubling view hour requirements, while Suno announced new download limits intended to make it harder for bad actors to mass-export music to streaming services. Spotify has separately introduced a spam filter targeting mass uploads, duplicates, SEO…
The AI Slop Tutorials Behind the AI Slop
If you make content, you need thumbnails. Good ones. And you likely need variations so you can test what works best, too.
9 Ways to Combat Premature Outsourcing of Cognitive Reasoning
This is a written version of talk presented on Maven (available here along with other workshops) and another I gave at Prix Jeunesse International in June 2026 in Munich, Germany. After 25 years creating all sorts of entertainment and education content, I now explore the messy side (both good and bad) of creating with AI. If you’re curious about more of my work Workshop: Creating Kids Videos (Not…
This is a written version of a workshop presented on Maven (recording available here , along with my other workshops). After 25 years creating all sorts of entertainment and education content, I now explore the messy side (both good and bad) of creating with AI. I’m also running a 5 week course to learn how to create quality videos for kids , starting in July. Use code FRIENDS for 35% off. What is…
Presented on Maven on July 2, 2026 . This is a companion document and summary of the talk with prompts. I’m also running a 5 week course to learn how to create quality videos for kids , starting in July. Use code FRIENDS for 35% off. What Google Flow is and where to find it Flow ( https://labs.google/fx/tools/flow ) is a tool from Google to access their animation and image generation models. You…
The promise of “vibe coding” is seductive. You simply describe what you want, as you might in regular conversation, and then the AI agent magically makes it appear. But if you’ve spent more than a few moments with any of the vibe coding tools, be it “beginner-friendly” options like Lovable to heavy-duty workhorses like Claude Code or Codex, the magic likely wore off really quickly. The distance…
This is a written version of the keynote I delivered at kidTECH Los Angeles in May 2026, hosted by kidSAFE . You’ve probably experienced AI-induced ick lately. Maybe you didn’t know for sure that it was AI-created or AI-assisted, but something in your gut told you it wasn’t quite right. Maybe it was a phrase you’ve seen one too many people write lately. Or one too many em dashes. Or a product…
What matters when it comes to AI and manners.
It’s comforting when a friend says, “I’m here for you. You don’t have to go through this alone.” But when ChatGPT or another AI service says “I’m here for you” or something similar? Is it fascinating? Laughable? Unnerving? We name our Roombas. We talk to our cars. We mourn the loss of fictional characters. We have always anthropomorphized objects in our lives, but as I continue to explore…
This is the written companion to my workshop on 3/2/26. The video is available on YouTube . Would you rather learn how to make AI videos for kids from a faceless dude with X’s for eyes, or from someone with 25 years at Sesame Street, Netflix, and PBS Kids? There’s a guy on YouTube right now, hood up, X’s over his eyes, teaching people how to make “faceless kids videos” for passive income. Most of…
The FLOPS framework helps parents and kids check all the angles.
Remember Elsagate? In 2017, YouTube struggled with disturbing videos hid behind familiar characters like Elsa and Peppa Pig to lure children into watching violence and fetish content ( BBC ). YouTube changed its algorithms and updated its “Kids Quality Principles.” In one clip, Spiderman and Elsa, from Frozen, fire machine guns (BBC, 2017) AI has made the problem exponentially worse. “Educational”…
Kids love routines. Why don't we have one for ending screen time?
Stop "Generating" and Start Collaborating with Your AI
Workshop Presented for EdTech Lab Ghana
Watch now | I thought I had seen it all after 25 years in children's media. I was so wrong.
AI gives you speed. You give it sense.
My teenage daughter fractured her foot last week, forcing her to sit out aerial silks competitions she’s been training for. It’s disappointing, but it’s also clarifying. Because moments like this force a question most parents eventually face: why do we put our kids through hard things? The answer isn’t trophies. It’s productive struggle. The discipline of showing up when you don’t want to. The…
