The Looming Impact of Artificial Intelligence
Artificial intelligence is a newish concept/invention that arose : years ago. Since then, it has rapidly progressed and developed to become better and better. Lots of benefits have arrived with it, including managing repetitive tasks, saving time, and having digital assistants to guide people through their work. However, lots of detriments have also arrived with it. There is potential for creativity to be challenged, job displacement, ethical concerns, privacy, and the list goes on. As a student, one of the most concerning possibilities is cheating, or having ai “help” you on an assignment. I have already heard about this happening from my friends that are at other universities. In fact, some of them even admit to having ai do their assignments for them. As a content creator, there is a fear that ai will replicate or do a better job of my content, and lead to them eventually replacing me and other creators.
The usage of applications such as ChatGPT and Dall.E have drastically altered the future of education, which is why many in the educational sector have banned or set strict policies against its use. Others in the field of education may approach it from a different mindset and suggest ways in order to incorporate it into the curriculum. According to a research paper published by ResearchGate, ChatGPT is an incredibly beneficial and positive tool that may help promote learning and communication skills. “The ChatGPT platform allows students to engage in interactive conversations, similar to human interactions, where they can clarify doubts, explore new concepts, and reinforce their learning. Utilising innovative tools like ChatGPT offers numerous advantages, such as improved student engagement, efficiency, and enjoyment, ultimately revolutionising their study experience.” (Forman et Al, 2023) For some people, searching up information may not yield the desired results, so being able to converse about an unfamiliar topic with something that is more knowledgeable can be very helpful in the classroom.
Another aspect to note is that as technology becomes even more advanced, it will surely start to integrate more and more into our daily lives. Using these AI applications can help to prepare people for the future. “By cultivating a culture of technological openness and leveraging innovative tools, students can not only improve their academic performance but also prepare themselves for the evolving challenges and opportunities in the digital landscape.” (Forman et Al, 2023) Another quote that ties into this is “Current K-12 students will face an AI-powered future, which is likely to demand greater creativity, critical thinking, and aptitude with technology (Aoun, 2017; Hwang & Fu, 2020).
In my opinion, AI should not be banned. It is evolving faster than ever, and also has a lot of benefits to it. Instead, learning and creating a plan for how to properly use it is the most important action that needs to be taken. Some restrictions that should be enforced include cheating on assignments, and stealing creative ideas from an unknown source. The thing about using AI in educational institutions is that many view it as a replacement for the teacher, leaving the teachers jobless and taking over the market. However, there is another way to approach this situation. The teachers should be able to effectively utilise and collaborate with AI in order to increase the quality of educational sources and assignments. “Teachers can utilise ChatGPT to create and deliver instructional materials for their students. By leveraging AI to produce lecture notes, presentation slides, and test questions, educators can concentrate on other aspects of teaching. Moreover, ChatGPT allows teachers to offer targeted interventions and personalised learning experiences to students in real-time.” (Forman et Al, 2023)
When it comes to ethics, answers tend to vary more. Responsibility is one of the key issues. If something goes wrong, who is to blame for it? “Imagine that one day, when we used an autonomous vehicle to work and caused an accident. What are the responsibilities? Is it the driver (intelligent machine)? Owner (human)? Or the smart car manufacturer? In more serious cases, what happens if the surgical robot causes an accident and the patient dies during the operation. What is the responsibility?” (Lee, 2020) Of course, it is true that as AI develops further, accidents will happen less, but there is still a possibility of something going wrong, and that possibility creates a lot of anxiety in people. Yet another concerning topic is the topic of privacy, or lack thereof. There is information stored somewhere about you that could potentially include facial and thumbprint recognition, and various other types of personal characteristics. These have all been stored and acquired through the usage of AI. “In this AI monitoring economy, the main objective of these social networks, media, and internet platforms are to acquire, maintain our privacy information and data. AI monitoring now becomes the usual practice of these social networks and internet/mobile platforms. Citizens today seem to have lost the degree of autonomy they need to perform daily activities. If ownership is the correct relationship here, we will lose data ownership.” (Lee, 2020)
Citations:
Chai, Ching Sing, et al. “Perceptions of and Behavioral Intentions towards Learning Artificial Intelligence in Primary School Students.” Educational Technology & Society, vol. 24, no. 3, 2021, pp. 89–101. JSTOR, https://www.jstor.org/stable/27032858. Accessed 13 Mar. 2024.
Forman, Norbert, et al. “CHATGPT: A new study tool shaping the future for high school students.” International Journal of Advanced Natural Sciences and Engineering Researches, vol. 7, no. 4, 4 May 2023, pp. 95–102, https://doi.org/10.59287/ijanser.562.
Lee, Raymond S. “Ai Ethics, security and privacy.” Artificial Intelligence in Daily Life, 22 Aug. 2020, pp. 369–384, https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-15-7695-9_14.