AI Explained for Children: Youth Non-Fiction Award 2025 for “I Know More! – Artificial Intelligence”

The children’s non-fiction book “I Know More! – Artificial Intelligence. How Machines Learn and Why It Matters” has won the Youth Non-Fiction Award 2025 in the STEM category. The German edition, translated by Jutta Vogt, was scientifically supervised by Prof. Kristian Kersting, Professor of Computer Science at TU Darmstadt and Co-Director of hessian.AI.

The jury praises the book for conveying complex foundations of modern AI “with ease.” With colourful illustrations, numerous flaps and many everyday examples, the book introduces children from around eight years old to topics such as machine learning, deep learning, the history of AI, real-world applications, as well as opportunities and risks associated with the technology.

The Youth Non-Fiction Award is one of the few nationwide prizes dedicated exclusively to non-fiction books. Since 2008, the Association for Reading Promotion (Verein für Leseförderung e.V.) in Heilbronn has been honouring titles that give children and young people accessible, curiosity-driven entry points into knowledge and science.

The publisher Usborne also highlights how the book helps children understand how learning machines work, why computers can make mistakes, or whether AI can be creative. Questions such as “Can an AI be my friend?” invite young readers to reflect before discovering the answers behind the flaps.

hessian.AI warmly congratulates everyone involved — especially Prof. Kristian Kersting for his scientific guidance of the German edition of this award-winning children’s non-fiction book.