In my own personal experience, I had not dared to touch the new generative AI platforms such as Microsoft Copilot, ChatGBT, or Google Gemini when they were first released. Up until just a few weeks ago at the start of the semester, the only ways that I had experienced AI was when peers were using the platforms to check their homework. I have even had students blatantly use generative AI programs to complete their in class assignments. With somewhat negative experiences being some my first with this newer technology, you can say it had left a sour taste in my mouth especially as an upcoming teacher. Having watched students of mine and even some of my own peers sacrifice essential parts of their education and skill building by using generative AI programs to do critical work for them set off proverbial alarm bells in my own head about the use of these programs. These are not the only experiences that I have had with generative AI, as was mentioned in class by Josie, many of the companies behind these programs are stealing artworks from social media platforms and using it to train their AI programs. This was something I had been aware of as someone who interacts with many artists and their communities online. Many of those artists were not comfortable with ‘Big AI’ stealing their works, so much so that many of them have created an ‘Anti AI’ overlay for their digital works in an effort to try and fool the AI and keep it from stealing their works. As of now however, I do not know if this pattern still works to combat AI art theft. Upon finding this out when mindlessly scrolling through various social media platforms, I had found myself becoming increasingly weary of this new technology, especially as these platforms have shown to negatively impact things that myself and others find great pleasure in.
With having so many negative experiences with AI, you can imagine the shock I felt when the use of generative AI programs was required for a class that I am taking this semester. There were a multitude of initial thoughts that were initially negative about having to use AI for my own learning, although after a few seconds there was further explanation into the required use of these programs. The class was taught how to use these programs to their benefit through a series of somewhat complex prompts to the AI. As an example, the class was taught how to effectively prompt an AI into acting as a tutor for a given subject, asking it to provide explanations and ask questions based on the given subject. This had blown my mind, I had only seen and heard that AI had been used in bad faith and could not believe that it was regularly used and could be used with good faith and still benefit the user.
That one class has sparked a change in my own use of generative AI programs and I now find myself using it multiple times a week to help benefit my own academics. Before that one introduction of how someone can properly use generative AI to benefit them while at the same not hindering them. This has made me hopeful towards the increased use of AI by students especially, showing skeptics like myself that these programs were made to help us and not hinder us like many bad faith users have been doing to themselves. While there are still challenges with bad faith users and certain bad faith practices with the developers of AI, it is still something that is inherently new in the technological world.
Although being essentially forced to use these AI programs and slowly becoming more comfortable with its use, I am of course still skeptical. As mentioned before, there is a certain hope with the continued development of these programs that can be proven to be incredibly beneficial to human society. I firmly believe that with tighter regulations on the use of AI in certain spaces, such as professional spaces, it can be used in good faith to improve certain things such as productivity and intelligence as a whole. Upon learning how to properly prompt and use a generative AI chatbot, Microsoft Copilot personally, my mind started racing with ways that I can use the program to better my own quality of life as a student. I have since started minimally playing with the program to see what it is capable of as a tutor with certain subjects, some of which I am already familiar with to see what the AI already knows. As expected based on what we have already discussed at length during class meetings, there were some discrepancies when it came to some of the more obscure information of the topics that the AI was tested with.
There is a childlike hope in myself that with the perfection of AI development years down the line, that the upcoming generations will be more intelligent. Of course as a rising teacher this is a sort of selfish desire of mine, not in the sense that it may make my own future career easier, but more in the sense that the future generations can live a more fulfilling life. This hope has some grounds as it was shown to us in the article titled “Meet the ‘super users’ who tap AI to get ahead at work” by The Washington Post talks about AI users that have learned how to properly prompt the AI programs to be more efficient in their work. These users have essentially taught AI to do some aspects of their work without being a hindrance to the person themselves and the final product of this work. With this new efficiency, AI users may have more time to indulge in their own hobbies or spend more time with their family and friends as well.
There was a point in my academic career when I was approached by peers, colleagues, and even family members about my stance on the use of AI as a rising teacher and if I was worried that the generative AI would be a hindrance to my career. While even now with a newfound appreciation for generative AI programs, there is still uncertainty of how it can negatively affect my future, especially with these programs in their ‘infant’ stage. As with most things, the programs start rough and unrefined, but may ultimately become better versions of themselves. While generative AI users may be using the shiny and new programs in bad faith, there is a certain hope that with stronger regulations among its use there will be an increase in good faith users that can start to outweigh the negative stigma that generative AI has surrounding it.