You’re probably sick of hearing about AI. Everywhere we go, it’s AI this and AI that, with some people saying it’s the greatest thing ever, and others chastising its use. No matter how tired you are of the AI conversation, you must continue to participate in it, because if people do not continue to discuss AI, it will grow out of control. Society needs to find a way to regulate AI, before its impacts cause irrevocable harm.

 

Progress is the cornerstone of humanity — if we’re not moving forward, we’re moving backward, right? However, throughout history, we’ve seen the consequences of unchecked progress: the destruction from the atom bomb in WWII, the environmental damage of the Industrial Revolution, the decimation of Native American populations during the Age of Exploration. 

 

If AI continues to progress unfettered, it has the potential to be destructive similar to those historical events, because it will limit the human experience.

 

Creation

During childhood, we learned to think. We wrote mediocre stories,  learned to play the recorder, and drew terrible pictures that our parents said were masterpieces. We labored over long division equations and memorized the bones in the human skeleton and made slideshows about Lewis and Clark that we filled with obnoxious GIFs. We learned to think so that we could eventually contribute to society.

 

If we have a machine that creates for us, what’s the point? How are our lives meaningful if we let an abiotic thing take our opportunities? We’ve read the dystopian novels; we know what happens to a society that stops thinking. If we continue to rely on AI, we will lose our connection to what makes us human: our ability to express our thoughts and feelings with creativity. 

 

“I’m strictly opposed to [AI]. I feel like it makes you stupid,” said Glenn Vaughn, senior.

 

AI will make us stupid if we’re not careful. It obviously inhibits our scholarship, because if ChatGPT does our assignments, then we do not learn declaratively. However, it makes us stupid in a much more significant way by inhibiting our critical thinking. 

 

If we cannot think critically, then we cannot form our own perspectives, thereby allowing others to lead us wherever they will. AI will turn us all into sheep; instead of creating our own lives, we will live and die with little to show for it. 

 

Maybe that prediction is extreme, but we should not risk it coming to fruition. Companies, governments, and everyday people need to increase their limits on AI usage, ensuring its ethical development, so we do not melt our own brains.

 

“I don’t think that AI can compete with your own creativity,” said Macy Reid, senior.

 

Society

Also, during childhood, we learned to socialize. We shared our toys, worked in teams, and took turns on the jungle gym. We kept our hands to ourselves, cleaned up our messes, and listened when others were speaking. We learned to socialize so that we could eventually contribute to society. 

 

AI is damaging to human socialization because it leaves people behind. 

 

“I think we’re becoming too reliant. It’ll take away the lesser jobs that you might not need a college degree for… because as college gets more expensive, people might not be able to have a job,” said Vaughn.

 

“[AI] helps advance our society, but right now, what we need is to make sure that everyone’s accounted for with jobs and everything,” said Victoria Cook, senior.

 

Instead of continuing to build a society where everyone is incorporated, as we use AI, we will increase the wealth and education gaps. Humans are social creatures; we need support from others — thus, we need to support others. If we rely on technology instead of people, we will lose the valuable experiences of building interpersonal relationships. 

 

We’re in the early stages of artificial intelligence, and we will certainly see it progress exponentially throughout our lifetimes. We must keep an eye on this progress, so AI does not send the train of humanity off the rails.