The rising adoption of generative AI/ML technologies increases the need to support teens in developing AI/ML literacies. Child-computer interaction research argues that construction activities can support young people in understanding these systems and their implications. Recent exploratory studies demonstrate the feasibility of engaging teens in the construction of very small generative language models (LMs). However, it is unclear how constructing such models may foster the development of teens' understanding of these systems from technical and socio-ethical perspectives. We conducted a week-long participatory design workshop in which sixteen teenagers constructed very small LMs to generate recipes, screenplays, and songs. Using thematic analysis, we identified technical and socio-ethical pieces of understandings that teens exhibited while designing generative LMs. This paper contributes (a) evidence of the kinds of pieces of understandings that teens have when constructing LMs and (b) a theory-backed framing to study novices' understandings of AI/ML systems.

翻译：生成式人工智能/机器学习技术的日益普及，增加了支持青少年发展AI/ML素养的需求。儿童-计算机交互研究认为，构建活动有助于年轻人理解这些系统及其影响。近期探索性研究证明了让青少年参与构建极小规模生成式语言模型（LMs）的可行性，但尚不明确构建此类模型如何从技术和社会伦理视角促进青少年对这类系统的理解。我们开展了一项为期一周的参与式设计工作坊，16名青少年通过构建极小规模语言模型生成食谱、剧本和歌曲。通过主题分析，我们识别出青少年在设计生成式语言模型时展现的技术性与社会伦理理解片段。本文贡献在于：（a）提供了青少年构建语言模型时展现的理解片段类型证据；（b）提出了一个理论支撑的框架，用于研究新手对AI/ML系统的理解。