Month: February 2025

With any controversial issue, being aware of the risks and benefits will allow you to see what you’re dealing with from a broader perspective, rather than only favoring one side. This is the stance I tend to take on AI, knowing and hoping for all of the potential good it could cause for the world, while also being aware of the very serious risks and drawbacks that come with using AI technology. Being who I am, a college student going into a teaching career, I’ve had many conversations where AI was viewed negatively and I’ve had to consider what the “punishment” for using AI will be if I use it myself, or what the punishment against my students will be if they use AI for an assignment. Needless to say, I don’t contemplate the benefits of AI frequently in my day-to-day school experience. 

However, my boyfriend is a master’s student at the Rochester Institute of Technology studying Information Technology and Analytics with a bachelor’s degree in Computer Information and Technology. We’ve had several conversations about the use of AI and how he uses it every single day for his major and the few internships he’s completed. It’s given me an entirely new perspective on AI and how beneficial it can be in different job fields. Although our viewpoints have conflicted many times during these conversations, I cannot deny the importance and value that AI has in the lives of others. One article in particular that allowed me to see the benefits of AI is Danielle Abril’s Washington Post article, “Meet the ‘Super Users’ Who Tap AI to Get Ahead at Work”. The people described in this article have figured out a way to take AI and make it their personal assistant. This is an aspect of AI I can’t help but marvel at. Knowing there is a way to take advantage of all the best AI has to offer and make it work for you seems like a revolutionary idea for the lives of people who work in an office building or take part in daily meetings.

The only “drawback” with this concept is the amount of time it takes to tailor the AI to fit your specific needs. There is no “instant fix” for any project or problem you have to complete. Specifically in the “Super Users” article, a man detailed his use of AI during a 5-hour deadline. He was able to take the text he was supposed to read and have Chat GPT summarize it for him, which led him to complete his required summary document for an executive in 2.5 hours. I’ve found in my time student teaching that students want an instant solution. Chat GPT can churn out an essay in seconds. While this might seem like a perfect solution, if you don’t have the time to proofread what Chat CPT has written, you could end up putting yourself in a position to be punished for plagiarizing work, or including incorrect information in an essay. 

I do not believe that AI is inherently bad, however, I do think it can indulge people’s tendency for laziness. This unfortunately can make people more complacent and expect less of themselves, especially in the case of students who haven’t fully mastered a skill and turn to AI instead of developing the skill themselves, like writing the aforementioned essay. However, taking AI and using it to teach yourself a skill IS possible and useful in terms of using AI for school or work. This is what is highlighted by Abril in the Washington Post article which really shows readers how AI can be beneficial for them. Of course, the issue of AI in the media right now is almost always portrayed in a negative light. Partly due to the actual negative issues with AI, but also partly because of the tendency for negative news to become more “viral” with the general public.  

Using AI to automate things in your own life is one of the most beneficial and often undiscussed aspects of AI. I think most people have heard of the various virtual assistants on the market, such as the Amazon Echo with Alexa, the Google Home with Google Assistant, or the Apple HomePod with Siri. My family has several Alexas around their home and uses them to automate certain aspects of their day. Automating things around your house with a virtual assistant like Alexa can make day-to-day small interactions extremely efficient and save you time by doing different mundane tasks for you. Programming Alexa to turn on your lights at the time you come home from work, or programming your Google Nest thermostat to turn the heat down when you leave for work and turn it back on when you come home can actually save you money on electric bills. This use of AI is genuinely useful for everybody and can help make the smallest parts of your day more efficient, even though this technology is not the “traditional” image of what we picture AI as being. 

One of the biggest positive ambitions of AI that I’ve heard of is the use of AI to detect different forms of skin cancer. If AI came to a point where it could accurately detect different forms of skin cancer, it could be revolutionary for the medical community. As stated on the Visual DX website, patients have been able to get a detection of their skin cancer, and even have different questions answered about it to get a thorough differential diagnosis. The increased detection of skin cancer in its early stages could save people the trauma of late-stage cancer treatments, or the unfortunate fate of finding out too late and there being no further treatment to help them. 

One favorable aspect of the Visual DX detection software specifically is the ability to detect skin cancers on patients with darker skin. Unfortunately, other AI softwares trained to detect skin cancers fail communities of color. Christensen, et. al details in their article, “Medical Algorithms are Failing Communities of Color” how much of the data given to various other cancer detection software is homogenous and biased towards white patients. Visual DX has up to 28% of its data from people of color in order to give its detection software a more accurate data set to work with. 

AI as a technology has thousands of potential landmark achievements in various fields. Some of the potential is personal to help the average person streamline their day, and some is broader, helping save those with potentially fatal diseases, and being inclusive while doing it. Although many people will tell you that AI is terrible and should be banned, it’s important to remember that like all things, AI has its benefits and drawbacks. Working on improving the drawbacks now, will make the enjoyment of the benefits that much better in the future. 

When I hear the word ‘Artificial,’ I automatically think of something unnatural—whether it’s chemically processed food or the latest cutting-edge technology that’s rapidly transforming the world. While I can only speak for myself, it’s fair to say that anything we can’t fully understand evokes a sense of fear. This confusion or fear can create chaos and panic. Artificial Intelligence can and has done just that. My first experience with AI (Artificial Intelligence) was being warned of its dangers in high school. My teachers threatened us not to use it when completing schoolwork, they would find out and we would be penalized. However, as I began using AI, I recognized its abilities, and I found that this sense of panic and confusion was merely the consequence of not informing myself. Basing my judgment on a concept I didn’t understand, from other’s experiences, and my own preconceptions. 

In the Article, AI Snake Oil, the authors Arvid Narayanan and Sayash Kapoor make a comparison about AI that assisted me in digesting the actual concept usages. “AI is no threat to education, any more than the introduction of the calculator was” (AI Snake Oil). Change is often uncomfortable and similar to the way we stay updated on current events to better understand the changing world around us, research is imperative to form our opinions. This analogy of the calculator helped me to realize that there was a time when people did not understand the way they worked. Fear of the unknown, that calculators would replace the long-standing traditional ways of doing math. This is similar to how concerns about AI replacing human jobs and human education. But as time passed and research was done, calculators became integrated into daily usage. So much so that we forget there was a time when they weren’t accepted. 

Exposing myself to the full capabilities of Artificial Intelligence has led me to realize its abilities stretch way further than I could have ever imagined. Whether it’s accommodating students with disabilities such as dyslexia, ADHD (Attention-deficit/ hyperactivity disorder), or its ability to assist in diagnosing skin conditions/ rashes (although its accuracy/ confidentiality is still being debated). These abilities can be life-changing for those who use them. “Ross, who has attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) and uses they/them pronouns, says they’ve more than doubled their productivity by using AI for almost everything: to create content using specific frameworks, to prepare for tough conversations, to help with project and strategic planning, and to determine impact” (Meet the ‘super users’ who tap AI to get ahead at work). As someone who struggles with ADHD, productivity is of the essence. Struggling with the conception of ideas, staying focused, and time management can be detrimental to a productive day. Deciding when and how I’m going to tackle my tasks at hand frequently results in more time than the actual completion of said tasks. Personally, reading about how Ross used AI to structure tough conversations comes especially helpful to not only myself but my friends as well. Planning conversations in my head can take up time that I don’t have but also can result in negative connotations that deter me from having these discussions at all. “Kanika Khurana also finds AI to be a timesaver. The 30-year-old former head of design at ProCreator, a design agency in India, uses it for research, to help write up meeting minutes from AI-generated transcripts, and to summarize her dictated thoughts after job-candidate interviews, then format them for human resources” (Meet the ‘super users’ who tap AI to get ahead at work). Kanika’s experience with AI is another example of the way this newfound tool can be used.  Tasks can be simplified allowing for more productivity especially for those in similar job positions to Kanika. I think it’s important to note that this method of ‘help’ doesn’t just save time but can help alleviate the emotional frustration that I, and so many others deal with when having to structure a schedule or organize thoughts. These statements provide a promising future for not just those who struggle with productivity but for anyone willing to explore the capabilities. 

Additionally, AI has even begun positioning itself in many aspects of the medical field. Scribing, the way providers write/fill out any and all documents for their patients has become intertwined with AI. This can be seen in all environments, whether it’s a simple primary doctor visit or inpatient in hospitals. I discussed this with my sister, a certified physician’s assistant who discussed her thoughts on this. While she believes it has made great advancements in the efficiency of seeing patients she calls its accuracy and motives into question. Furthermore, companies/ apps have recently launched software that is designed to provide information on skin conditions/ rashes using the help of AI. Aysa is an app that claims to provide “personalized guidance and helpful information to aid in your discussion with your healthcare provider” (askaysa.com). While this offers hope for people who may not have ready access to healthcare, it’s important to stay informed on the privacy policies and limitations of utilization. It is also vital to acknowledge the disparity that is apparent in artificially created algorithms currently used in the healthcare field. Algorithms that make decisions such as transplant lists and treatment plans could stand in the way between life and death. According to HealthAffairs, “Despite their ubiquity, medical algorithms’ fatal flaw is that they are often built on biased rules and homogenous data sets that do not reflect the patient population at large. Patients should never have to worry that an algorithm could prevent them from receiving an organ transplant, yet this is the reality for many Black patients on transplant lists” (Medical Algorithms Are Failing Communities Of Color). These algorithms whether done out of good or bad faith are resulting in the neglect of communities. It’s vital to address these flaws before more AI is introduced to the medical world to ensure that all people across the spectrum, regardless of race, class, sexual, orientation, culture, etc. receive the same adequate care. 

AI has genuine potential to boost productivity and efficiency and create outlets of accessibility for those who seek it. The discussed examples highlight just a fraction of the ways that AI can and is currently being utilized in society. There is significant work to be done in many aspects of AI itself and its integration.

The rise of artificial intelligence (AI) over the last several years has been simultaneously exhilarating and terrifying. When I am asked; Is there anything inspiring, encouraging, hopeful in what you have learned about/experienced with AI so far? I know I need to do more research and possibly try to think outside of my personal fears and needs. I must admit I have been leaning toward one side over the other. Due to professors’ warnings about incorrect information produced by AI, problematic results regarding personal biases encrypted into AI programs, and fears of overreliance, I have found myself hesitant to cheer the rise of AI on. 

In searching for inspiring, encouraging, and hopeful qualities about AI, it is important to recognize that AI is an umbrella term. In the opening line of “You look like a thing, and I love you,” we are reminded that “artificial intelligence” means a lot of things, depending on whether you’re reading science fiction or, selling a new app, or academic research. While sci-fi AI is often used as a villain or obstacle, AI as a tool can be incredibly effective. 

I personally use AI every day without even thinking about it. For example, I use spellcheck. Apple helps me with spelling and grammar errors in every text, and the same is true for every sentence I write for class—not including handwritten work, of course—as my commuter also uses AI.

 Students in class seem to be using AI in the same way. Several students stated through Padlet that they use spellchecking AI, “I use grammarly to fix mistakes that I may have made in my writing.” and “I use AI the most with advanced grammar and spellcheck.” Some even go a step further, “I will paste [my work] into ChatGPT and ask it to check if my grammar or sentences make sense.” Though I’m not doing the grading, I don’t see this as academic dishonesty. I see a student who has done all the “brain work” and uses AI to help them with grammar and spelling after they have put all of their thoughts down.

Spellcheck and other AI are being used as an aid for people with ADHD, according to one ‘super user’. “Ross, who has attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) and uses they/them pronouns, says they’ve more than doubled their productivity by using AI for almost everything.” This is a perfect example of an effective use of AI that I wrongfully neglected. Just because I don’t struggle with something—to the same extent— doesn’t mean other people couldn’t use a tool to help them. Imagine judging someone for using the elevator when they haven’t been given any stairs. I may use writing aid AI sparingly, but that doesn’t mean I should damn those who don’t. 

In a class discussion about the public perception of AI, my fellow student Claire Lustig created an incredibly effective metaphor. She describes the rise of AI as a mythological Pandora’s box. Humanity has come upon this infinitely powerful entity that can change our lives in ways we can not anticipate and can not take back. I would like to argue that humans’ ability to adapt to technologies and innovations they once feared is inspiring, encouraging, and hopeful in and of itself.

I grew up in an era of exponentially increasing technology. Of course, all generations have major and minor technological advancements that sometimes rewrite people’s entire livelihoods. My generation grew up in the age of the internet–-an innovation that has conquered every aspect of our daily lives. This did not go without an adjustment period from the public. Why should we expect anything less from the introduction to AI? To tackle this moral dilemma of mine, I will dive into how and why humans adapt to change—like artificial intelligence.

Not only is the rise of AI comparable to that of other technologies, such as the Internet, television, and mobility aids, but this is also not the first time the public has feared these large changes. We discussed in class that new technological advancements often lead to moral/social panic, at least at the beginning of their introduction to the public. 

In response to my group’s conversation, Beth began to tell an interesting story about the first Matrix movie, which shifted my perspective of AI. Beth explained, “That [the] film has a lot of phones in it, both relatively new cell phones and lots of fetish-y shots of landlines with twirling, whirling phone cords. The scholar’s research had revealed that when [the] telephone first came on the scene, moral panic ensued.” This is a remarkably similar situation to the fears surrounding AI. Humans are great adapters by nature (I confidently say that as someone dedicating my life to studying how and why they adapt as an anthropologist). 

If this is true, why do humans struggle with change so much? Well, to use circular thinking, it’s because we are humans. We will fear the unknown until we produce the urge to conquer it. Beth later explained why people were so afraid of something that now seems so crucial to our everyday lives. The public feared young people would use phones to talk to each other naked. While yes, this most undoubtedly happens, it has not led to the destruction of civilizations as people predicted. (Note that I’m being hyperbolic here, but people have certainly responded to AI to this level of catastrophe). 

While the intellect and innovation necessary to create artificial intelligence are unfathomably impressive in their own right, what inspires, encourages, and brings me hope the most about AI is how humans have been able to face their fears and begin to adapt and mold it to their needs. When looking back at how humans first encountered modern technology, such as the telephone or the internet, it can be natural to judge their stubbornness. Though I believe AI’s path can be potentially dangerous, I now feel the need to resist the urge to judge it. How can I judge a technology that has helped people with problems I don’t need help with, such as ADHD? It’s all fun, games, and critical thinking until you’re the old dinosaur cursing at your Alexa, blaming the youth for letting technology take over without acknowledging the good it has done for others.

Like a majority of people, and especially as an English major, I find the increasing use of AI technology to be scary and impractical. However, over the past three weeks I have been learning about the different things that AI has impacted positively, or things in our everyday lives that we didn’t know were AI but evidently were AI all along. There are a few things that are promising in the future of AI: education, medicine, and crime. These are broad terms on purpose, since there are a variety of things that AI does to help each of them function already.

AI has a promising future for education. Already we have things like spell-check and grammarly, which are helping students fine-tune and check their papers daily, but what could the future have in store for education? The Office of Online Programs at University of Illinois writes in their article, “AI in Schools: Pros and Cons,” that AI provides teachers with unlimited access to many resources, “Just a few examples are Canva Magic Write… Curipod… Eduaide… and Quizzizz.” (AI in Schools: Pros and Cons.) These applications that are considered AI are helpful on many levels for educators- they are able to plan more effective and interactive lessons efficiently due to the use of these kinds of AI. In addition, the Office of Online Programs also writes that the use of AI can make lessons more inclusive. “Tools that offer text-to-speech, visual recognition, speech recognition, and more can help teachers adapt resources so that all students have an equal learning opportunity.” (AI in Schools: Pros and Cons) This is especially true in cases where there are students with special needs, as accommodation is made much easier by making material much more accessible for them. While I agree that these are wonderful pros enabled by AI, it is important to note that these tools are best used for polishing and refining, and I do not think that allowing AI to write entire lesson plans would be beneficial until the technology is much more advanced.

The use of AI in medicine is not a new thing; it’s used to diagnose patients, make drugs, and transcribe medical documents, among other things. I took a deep dive into the National Library of Medicine and came across “Artificial Intelligence: How is it Changing Medical Sciences and Its Future?” Basu et al. writes “The most recent application of AI in global healthcare is the prediction of emerging hotspots using contact tracing, and flight traveler data to fight off the novel coronavirus pandemic.” (Basu et al.) Although the article was published in 2020, before the public release of ChatGPT and the widespread use of generative AI, it still generates a sense of hope for the future. We all suffered through COVID-19, and I’ll admit that knowing we have the technology to track hotspots and the spread of a disease also provides a sense of relief. Outbreak risk software and applications similar ensure that each pandemic is handled more effectively and efficiently than the last. One of the concerns with AI, especially in medicine, is the concern that folks will lose their jobs to AI applications. The article states this as a myth, and writes “the fact is that physicians who understand the role of AI in healthcare will likely have an advantage in their career.” (Basu et al.) They go on to show a Radiologist job advertisement, where one of the requirements for the job is “must be … excited about a future where radiologists are supported by world-class AI and machine learning.” (Basu et al.) One of my biggest concerns for AI is the possible loss of jobs for real humans, so if it is true that this is a myth, I am hopeful that in the future AI will continue to transform medicine and make jobs easier for the people who do them.

One last aspect of AI that we discussed briefly in class was facial recognition, specifically its use in law enforcement. After we covered the risk of bias being transferred into AI, I wanted to know what was being done to overcome this obstacle and make the use of AI facial recognition accurate and efficient. Paolo Vilbon published an article last year, “A.I. And Its Impact on Facial Recognition Software” and wrote “One of the issues identified with artificial intelligence and facial detection is that AI face recognition tools ‘rely on machine learning algorithms that are trained with labeled data.’” (Paolo) Unfortunately Paolo’s article didn’t have any information on the progress being made on facial recognition software, but I think that a fix to the bias problem could be in our near future. If the issue with biased facial recognition software is because the AI is trained with biased data, then training AI with unbiased data would solve the problem. Obviously it is not as easy as it sounds, many countries were built on slavery and even in America racism and discrimination are still an issue today. If there was a way to filter out biased data from the unbiased data, that could be fundamental in transforming facial recognition software.

I would be lying if I said I was willing to accept that AI is the future, but regardless of whether any of us accept it or not: it’s a fact. As time goes on the issues and obstacles that prevent AI from being successful and accurate will come closer and closer to being overcome. I look forward to a day where all AI is trained with unbiased data, as far in the future as it may be. As a student, the promising future of education with AI tools is hard to not be inspired and excited for, especially when it comes to diversity, equity, and inclusion. Additionally, with the future of AI in medical science, we can help diagnose and treat patients more efficiently than ever. I can only hope that programmers and coders are doing their part to ensure the end of biased AI systems, which would transform the way AI can be used in many instances, not just education, medicine, and crime.

by Lainelle Brazee

In my limited experience with AI, the phrase I’ve heard over and over is simply, it’s helpful. It’s productive, it’s time efficient, and in most cases, it’s free– free, of course, in terms of monetary condition, not the cost of personal data collected or stored. The people of the anonymous Padlet conducted by Dr.McCoy in class seem to agree. “I sometimes use AI to summarize really difficult and complex research papers or scholarly articles that are given to students in class. It really helps…” one user says. Another has something similar, “(Chat GPT) is a really helpful tool…it’s like a little online unpaid intern”. Here, I think, is a good spot to acknowledge that AI use can cause a world of hurt, whether it’s plagiarism, reliance, or simply giving false information. If you as the reader (and I as the author) can choose to explicitly focus on the positives just for the few moments it takes to read this paper, perhaps we can set aside the catchall phrase “AI is bad” and its entailment. 

AI’s functionality and practicality have everything to do with the atmosphere in which it is used, and the appropriateness of the aforementioned. For example, you wouldn’t necessarily think that AI has a use in the general workplace- but as I read there are several AI ‘super users’ who have trained the system to their benefit. Their use of AI is far different from, as Maggie mentioned in class on Friday, high school English students who delight in copy/pasting their essay prompts and the subsequent return into ChatGPT and the Google Doc containing ‘their’ essay. Kanika Khurana is a so-called super user who put time and effort into training her AI. “The 30-year-old former head of design at ProCreator, a design agency in India, uses it for research, to help write up meeting minutes from AI-generated transcripts, and to summarize her dictated thoughts after job-candidate interviews, then format them for human resources. Her team has also created custom bots that can help other (especially more junior) colleagues create content for clients using specific lingo and voice, catering to target audiences”, Danielle Abril notes in her article. If this same mindset were to be adopted across other disciplines, I could easily see how the indoctrination of AI in the workplace could be both constructive and common. 

There are a lot of (mostly) baseless claims living on the internet about AI and the positive benefits it’s having on our society. If you ignore a particular half of the pros/cons chart, it’s easy to get really excited! Firstly, we’ve talked in class about the use of AI in the medical world. If something like VisualDx could have a sibling specifically dedicated to cancer recognition, for example, accurately and consistently, that would be a huge deal in the medical community as well as for patients globally. Of course, we still might have to keep rulers hidden out of sight in order to ensure accuracy. Then, there’s the problem that our AI systems are implicitly biased- wonder how that happened. There are solutions, as Donna M. Christensen, Jim Manley, and Jason Resendez point out in their article. Simple measures such as a “domain-forward approach” which involves an incorporation of doctors and health care professionals into the algorithm are all it would take to create a more fair and accurate system. Examining and lessening implicit bias in the people who drain the AI model (duh) and recognition by the Federal Drug Administration and the Federal Trade Commission of the fact that AI algorithms and machines could have potential harms as well as clear benefits. I feel as though we could be on the verge of something amazing- but there are some fatal flaws that have to be fixed before the good can completely overshadow the bad. However, the nagging voice in the back of my head has been incessantly reminding me we can’t fix problems to improve the quality of AI overall if no problems arise- the benefit of the doubt should be given. It’s simply impossible to create something that firstly immediately is foolproof and secondly stands the test of time without requiring the usual small adjustments and upgrades. Sometimes, terrible things need to happen for us as ignorant humans to realize the problem in the first place. (I will acknowledge that as I write this, I’m running full speed away from Jiminy Cricket. So if there are typos it’s because it’s hard to run full speed and hold a laptop and type simultaneously.)  As the world mourns the loss of Sewell Setzer III, I’m sure some people are only now realizing just how dangerous AI could potentially be. He shouldn’t have died. But his death has not gone unnoticed, and it has brought an enormous spotlight on not only Noam Shazeer and Daniel de Freitas but on AI in general.

The fact that an inhuman model is putting white Americans over black Americans on a transplant list solely based on the fact that they’re white is asinine. Especially because something that’s supposed to be based on so many numbers and statistics that it should simply *know* that, for example (thanks Wikipedia), Hispanics alone accounted for 51.1% of the country’s total population growth between 2010-2020. The fact that a COMPUTER- a machine, something that does not have skin to color- takes that into consideration is a sad reflection of not only implicit bias in our country but also the person(s) who trained it. I’ll take the ruler cancer. However, as I mentioned earlier, the idea of AI being a successful tool in the cancer detection world is something to look forward to, and for now, we’ll allow it the benefit of the doubt.

The cord phone sexytime hysteria discussion made me internally cringe, wondering if we as a society are expecting too much of AI in its ‘infancy’ (as Mari coined). AI is a part of our future whether we like it or not, and it’s up to us to become as educated as we can about the pros and the cons. As with everything else, it needs two things to advance and better itself: trial and error, and time. Those won’t come without the latter- so all we can do in the meantime is revel in the positives and learn how to adjust the negatives. As with anything and (almost) anyone else, AI deserves the benefit of the doubt.

When sitting down to work on this essay it occurred to me that I didn’t have a definitive opinion on if I personally thought Ai was good or not. This is not due to being completely ignorant on what’s going on when it comes to information circling Ai, but just a lack of truly sitting on to think about it too deeply. When putting more thought into what Ai is to me, I think it can be used in a plethora of good and well meaning ways, while also causing harm in a number of others. For now, I won’t focus on the negative aspects of Ai, instead I’ll be taking a closer look at how it can benefit people.

When doing my research I stumbled upon an article called, “AI—The good, the bad, and the scary,” by Florence Gonsalves, et. al. The article went into how Ai can benefit those with physical disabilities. When I think of Ai I can’t say my mind goes to mechanical arms or wheelchairs but when thinking about it more, these are things that need to be programmed and can vastly improve the lives of many people. “AI and robotics can open doors for people living with physical disabilities. We’ve seen the promise of assistive robot arms and mobile wheelchairs helping elderly adults regain independence,” (Gonsalves, et. al.). It’s something that can be really inspiring because without Ai it’s hard to say these advancements would have been made, or be as good as they are now. In that same vein self driving cars do that same for people with a lack of mobility. Not everyone enjoys being stuck at home and self driving cars and the Ai they process allows them to travel when they otherwise might not have been able to.

Ai can also be used when brainstorming. With where Ai currently is, it is possible to have almost human-like conversations with it and bounce ideas off of it. People can get very stuck in their own ways and may need another perspective on how something can be done which can prove very useful to scientists. “These models are no longer just about automating tasks — they are versatile support tools that people can tap into for brainstorming, practicing tough conversations, or even seeking emotional support,” (Gonsalves, et. al.). Innovation is important and sometimes people just need a little bit of a push to discover something new or find a way to improve something that already exists. Ai can be this for many people, and also due to its greatly developed conversation skills it can be a tool for people who may struggle with conversation as it is. Talking to real people can be daunting for some and Ai can be used as a tool for some to get practice with learning how to hold a conversation and getting comfortable with complicated social interactions. While I could see how this could also go wrong and turn into a problem, it’s important to also acknowledge the possible benefits. 

In another article I consulted from Forbes called, “10 Wonderful Examples Of Using Artificial Intelligence (AI) For Good,” (Bernard Marr), the article talked about how Ai can be used for reducing Inequality and poverty. The authors do take time to acknowledge that in this same area Ai can do harm and exclusionary but when used right Ai can be quite the opposite. “Smart text editor Textio, that makes job descriptions more inclusive, helped one publisher grow its percentage of women recruits to 57 percent, from just 10% previously,” (Bernard Marr). The job force can be a very difficult place to find inclusive settings and even when trying to be unbiased hiring teams still have internal biases. Ai, when programmed with the idea of correcting biases, can create a much more inclusive work environment without sacrificing anything in between. In terms of poverty the article stated, “Imperial College of London is training AI to Identify inequality based on street images of living conditions in cities, with the aim to ultimately use this information to improve the situations,” (Bernard Marr). Working to better an environment and support the people that work there can be a very positive thing and Ai can potentially help make it even easier to do.

Another article called, “Advantages and Disadvantages of AI,” (Nikita Duggal), talks about a little bit more straightforward advantages of Ai, the main one standing out to me being reducing human error. I don’t believe that people should be replaced but I do think that working alongside Ai could help produce faster and more efficient work. “The decisions taken by AI in every step are decided by information previously gathered and a certain set of algorithms. When programmed correctly, these errors can be reduced to null,” (Nikita Duggal). This area of Ai I feel is a bit of a hard subject to find good in as in many case’s I think people look at Ai reducing human error as Ai replacing human jobs and I’m sure some people in high positions look to do that. However, if working in tandem I think that it’s not all that harmful and would actually greatly benefit many different people in the long run.

There are many different ways that Ai can be beneficial while also there are possibly as equal as many or more ways to be awful. When it comes to Ai I think it comes down to the people behind it. People who want to do good will find ways to utilize Ai to benefit others. Specifically helping those with disabilities is a wonderful thing and I find it hard to find flaws in using Ai to do so if it’s helping improve the lives of others. While researching it was easy to see that many different aspects of Ai can work and I’m sure I learned about all the negatives that they can do but I do think it’s worth taking a look at the good things.

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.    

By Madelyn Perry

In the spirit of transparency, I am an AI skeptic, and this is in large part because I do not think that AI, although an umbrella term, is yet capable of working within that same spirit. In the words of Dr. McCoy, “transparency takes words, and words take work, care, and time.” Because of what I would best describe as The AI Race, or the eagerness with which both big and small tech companies are putting out their own Generative AI models and even updates to already existing models despite not having all the kinks (like the safety measures on Character.AI that could have directed Sewell Setzer III to a suicide hotline) worked out, it is clear that these models do not need to be forthcoming or honest to be considered successful. Perhaps that is their most human quality. And as someone who not only has to do a lot of writing but also enjoys the process, I naturally have a host of concerns regarding the future of creative professions, not the least of which is how I will guide my future students on not only how to use AI ethically, but what ethical AI use even looks like. However, with all of AI’s intended purposes, I believe that its most inspiring effect will be something unintended, something that did not require any data or programming. Because AI has taken the world by storm, the response to its existence has been equally forceful, and the strength behind the human response to AI demonstrates the responsibility consumers have to AI’s success.

While the advent of AI is often compared to that of Google (in that they incited similar fears), AI’s reach is far wider, making it widely accessible, but inescapable to those not wishing to partake in it. In fact, Google’s own form of AI, called Gemini, offers a summary response to any question asked, and does so at the very top of the page. This means that nearly everyone who has internet access and has Googled something within the past two years has some degree of familiarity with AI. But AI is not just an advanced search engine. It can generate art, music, writing, as well as solve complex math problems. So, the degree to which AI is causing a disruption in ordinary tasks, such as summarizing and writing emails, and is encroaching on more creative endeavors, means that now more than ever before there is a call to put policies and regulations into place. For instance, fake news is no new threat. It has especially been a hot topic for the past three elections. The difference this time around has been, again, the farther reach, the increased scale of production, and as John Herrman points out in his article, “Taylor Swift and the Power of AI Backlash,” the lies that are “stubbornly immune to correction because nobody thought they were strictly true in the first place.” This indicates that individuals very experienced with social media are becoming skilled in differentiating between AI and non-AI. But evolution of media awareness does not excuse the generation of images that are created with harmful intent. The intent to harass may affect less people than the blatant spread of lies, but it is harm done nonetheless. While I admit that my skepticism is directly underpinning my thought process, the explosion of AI and its subsequent rocky reception means that now, more than ever before, people are attentive to unethical tech use. This creates a breeding ground for positive change, things like safety features, banning the use of anyone’s image or likeness without consent, or the generation of images based on someone else’s art or other creative work unconsented or uncredited.

The scale at which those issues are happening demands an equal reaction, one that can only come from humans: lawmakers, judges, attorneys, folks in Congress, and folks like Dr. Joy Buolamwini who did not realize she had a right to be included in the AI conversation and a seat at the table where it was happening until she, a computer scientist herself, found herself “ex-coded,” something she describes as being excluded from the target audience that a program is designed to reach, when the code she was using did not recognize her Black skinned face as human, but did so when she wore a white mask. That she, someone who actively wished to escape society through technology, later felt so compelled to found the Algorithmic Justice League, an organization that works to inform people on AI’s inherent biases in an attempt to correct the way that technology best serves privileged demographics, is a testament to the active rather than passive role human beings can be taking to guide the development of AI. Many people, from both ends of the spectrum (from “AI is the future” to “AI is the undoing of our civilization) have described AI as inevitable, as if to suggest that this is just something that has to happen to us as a society, as if to suggest that efforts the ordinary person might make to direct technology to serve ordinary needs are futile, and that tech’s purposes instead need to be decided by the billionaires who create it. Incidentally, this is the exact feeling that big corporations aim to produce, more so I would argue, than their physical products themselves. To see people then rising up as specialized AI lawyers for instance, represents the passion that AI has awakened in people to become figures of social justice, which is something that was likely unforeseen, but inspiring nonetheless.

And, while it may be a lofty claim to suggest that AI, a tool that threatens to make creative professions obsolete, could go so far as to catalyze something like a Renaissance, artists will undoubtedly have to change the way they create, whether in an attempt to prove their work is not AI generated or instead to leave a message along the lines of “Look what I can do that AI cannot.” This shift, I am willing to predict, will years from now mark a time of significant social upheaval. As these are the conditions that creative movements traffic in, there is a lot to look forward to in the art scene. AI could help to produce art, or it could create a drive or sense of intrinsic motivation (even anger) that many artists might thrive in, feeling inspired not necessarily by AI itself, but the recognition of their own human capabilities and sensitivities, something that AI has yet to master.

Ultimately, AI is only as inevitable as we consumers allow it to be, and for those like myself who struggle to not fall into a total doomsday spiral, this is enough of a reminder that AI is not inherently a bad faith actor but is instead a reflection of our society’s values. AI, because it is not yet sentient, cannot and is not asking us to use it, but it still poses us with the question of how we could use it. However, to first determine that, we need to determine how we should not use it. That said, the movement to regulate Big Tech is perhaps the largest step we can take to direct AI towards pursuits like cancer detection or translators or tutors for non-native speakers. This cannot be done without human involvement. AI cannot regulate itself. Although AI has been marketed as something that will do our labor for us (for the better part of 70 years), we have since discovered that we affect AI as much as it affects us, and that the labor it does do for us is only as qualitative as our continual molding of it, thus AI inspires me, and hopefully inspires all of us, to hold ourselves accountable for that relationship.

I’ll be honest, I have very little experience with using AI. I use Grammarly (a writing tool) to check my spelling and grammar in my papers, but other than that I’ve never used AI to help me with my work. I’m so inexperienced that I don’t even know what the Chat GPT website looks like. I guess I don’t really have any reason to use it. I believe that most other people in my demographic use AI for help with their homework and papers etc. But, I’ve always enjoyed writing. I don’t mind having to write a ten-page paper as much as other people do. I love the process of thinking over my topic, scouring for research and evidence, and rewriting and rephrasing my words to display my thinking in the best way possible. It’s very rewarding, therapeutic, and even cathartic for me. Because I enjoy the process so much, I’ve never felt the need to have AI write things for me. My lack of need for AI assistance led me to have the naive belief that AI programs like Chat GPT and Microsoft Copilot do not have any positive attributes. But, as it turns out I’ve been corrected and learned a valuable lesson in the process. Just because I don’t have a use or need for something, doesn’t mean that others don’t have a need for it, and it certainly does not mean that that thing does not have value in the world at large. 

Before I begin, I find it important to define which type of AI I am specifically referencing. Chat GPT, Microsoft Copilot, and others of the like fall into the category of “generative AI”. This is the type of AI program that most people are using. As the name suggests, generative AI is a type of technology that generates content (words or images). Generative AI requires the human user to give it a prompt of content to generate. (AI Snake Oil) As I’ve recently learned the ability of these AI programs to almost instantly create content is incredibly helpful for people with disabilities. 

I first encountered this revelation in an article about “AI super users”. The author, Danielle Abril, introduces readers to Lisa Ross, who has ADHD and says that using AI to help them at work has “more than doubled their productivity.” Ross uses generative AI to help with project planning, determining the impact of those projects, creating content within a specific framework, and even preparing for tough conversations in the workplace. ADHD is often associated with executive dysfunction. People may have trouble planning and organizing, sequencing steps to complete a task, remembering details, or multitasking. (Attention Deficit Disorder Association) I imagine that AI programs could help a lot with things like this. People could give AI all of the tasks they have to do, and have the program tell them how to organize their time and split up the big tasks into smaller ones. AI is also great at summarizing large bodies of text. AI could even be used to schedule, organize, and plan a person’s entire weekly schedule. I can see how helpful this could be to someone who has trouble with executive functioning. I can see how much time, energy, and frustration can be saved by having a tool that can easily help you. I can also see how free and independent a person could feel if they don’t have to rely on others to help them but can use a readily available AI program instead.  

I’ve also found evidence that generative AI helps people with physical disabilities, specifically the hearing and visually impaired. Handtalk.com (a sign language translation app) lists some of the many AI assistive technology examples, including—but not limited to—language captioning and translation, image recognition, facial recognition, lip reading, and user navigation. AI technology can also provide live transcription. This could help in educational settings, by generating real-time captions for lectures. AI also has the potential to help in home settings. Things like turning on lights, adjusting temperature, and turning on appliances could all be automated by AI. The independence this could provide for people with physical disabilities is incredible. People would no longer have to worry about hiring help or relying on their loved ones to care for them and take care of their physical needs. I think a lot of people with physical disabilities struggle with feeling infantilized by the people around them because they don’t have much physical independence. I can see how AI could help with this feeling. 

Another important point to make is that generative AI programs are relatively cheap,  widespread, and readily available. These programs are much more accessible than typical assistive technologies for people with disabilities. Imagine a world where people with disabilities are not going to medical debt for acquiring technology that helps them to care for their basic human needs! Imagine a world where loved ones and caretakers are not burnt out by high demand and low staffing! Imagine a world where life is more accessible and equitable for those with disabilities! The best part is that these worlds are not far out of our reach with the advance of AI assistive technology. 

Generative AI designed to help people with disabilities is not perfect yet. There is definitely a bias toward English speakers, and AI-developing companies need to focus on hiring more employees with disabilities to provide more authentic perspectives and advocacy in the places where this technology is being developed. Even so, I do believe that there is good faith development happening in this new field. There is progress being made, and the accessibility gap is slowly but surely getting smaller. 

Doing my own research, exploring different perspectives, and reading other’s stories has opened my eyes to an entire world of AI use that I had previously not known about. I had assumed that generative AI was mostly used by neurotypical students who were just too preoccupied to do their homework. I realize now that that opinion was a result of misinformation and bad faith. There is a very diverse group of reasons why people choose to use AI, most of them NOT coming from a place of laziness but a place of accessibility and need. I’ve never broken a bone in my life, I’ve never had a reason to use crutches. How insane would I sound if I claimed that crutches were stupid and not necessary to the world just because I’ve never personally needed them? This is the same with AI. I now recognize that my limited and unfavorable opinions toward generative AI use were misguided and exclusionary towards people with disabilities.