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AI is transforming industries, but is it as amazing as people claim? We explore its benefits, drawbacks, and real-world impact to separate hype from reality!
Artificial Intelligence has been heralded by many as bearing the potential to usher in an absolute transformation of our way of life. Indeed, programs like ChatGPT have already shown the amazing potential of AI to process complex data and translate it into simple analyses, or Midjourney which has shown the surprisingly artistic potential of AI to imagine and generate images based on basic prompts. But naturally, there are limitations to the extent of this progress- not just the extent to which its true potential can actually be realised but equally to the extent that these steps forward are entirely positive. Therefore, let us consider the potential of AI to transform various parts of human life, and assess to what extent this will be possible or positive.
We are already beginning to see the influence of AI on education in a pretty major way. While this did initially manifest itself in an influx of homework cheating and plagiarism (quite obvious cheating and plagiarism at that), teachers and students alike are now beginning to understand the potential for AI to benefit education. This can primarily be seen in the benefit of AI to process large datasets and provide analysis a normal human simply might not notice. This is great for academia as it means that AI can make insight links that can provide direction for further research and academic exploration. Clearly, this potential has been recognised by many leading academic institutions, with many university essay competitions (that previously prohibited any contribution even somewhat inspired by AI) now opening the door to essays with ideas inspired by AI. Indeed, this potential really goes beyond simple essays: for history, noticing links between economic and political events might help inspire research that unearths new primary sources that help historians understand the key events of history, for geography, noticing patterns in geological events might help inform research in preventative measures for future incidents. This shows the massively positive influence AI can have our all fields of learning, driving us to be more intelligent and perceptive.
That said, there are equally compelling arguments against opening the Pandora’s Box of AI into education. The first of which is the most obvious: plagiarism. By simply asking a program like ChatGPT to write them an essay set to a certain format with a word limit, and then either proof-reading it themselves or feeding that essay into another AI that tries to make AI-produced language less obvious, a lazy study can easily produce a stellar piece of work with zero effort. The problem this poses is simple: if students use ChatGPT to avoid basic intellectual exercises at an early age, it stunts their long-term buildup of critical thinking skills that are vital in all aspects of life. Indeed, this plays into broader fears that the use of AI in professional formats will build up a culture of dependency, where talented individuals who make insightful points wouldn’t be valued in society because any mediocre underperformer can make the same points with a few AI prompts. So while the gain for humanity in education and academia is undoubtedly transformative, it simultaneously risks undermining the core values and basic skills which an education is intended to impart on one.
In most workplaces, however, AI has received a far warmer welcome than it has in educational circles. In a competitive environment, where each company must always strive to improve, AI offers the possibility of radical increases in efficiency. For an employee not tied to the same kind of standards as an academic, the power of AI to inspire workplace presentations, projects, advertise and a variety of other purposes, AI can seriously boost workplace performance, serving as a useful tool in their efforts. For employers AI can be even more beneficial, with some using AI to create algorithms tracking employee activity and performance and making a wide range of assessments regarding the efficiency and cost-effectiveness of an entire business model. In other words, the corporate world is the perfect training ground for AI to go full throttle: with businesses looking to push boundaries in a market that rewards innovation over anything else, AI can be a real game changer in making our business- big and small- more efficient.
That said, the real danger- and it is, I would argue, dangerous- would be letting AI loose to such an extent where the actual employees doing the job become obsolete. Unfortunately, it is a frequent trend throughout history that whenever a new technology emerges, employers get too eager to incorporate it, casting aside their workers and causing serious social problems. One would only need to look at the history of the term “Luddite”, or- for a more contemporary example- look at the impact of mechanisation in the American Rust Belt to truly see the damage unbridled focus for profit margins can do. We already live in an economy where, for many of the bottom in our societies, the term “wage slave” is becoming increasingly frequent, from exploitative zero-hour contracts to regulations on how many times one can use the bathroom. The potential for AI to greenlight the worst impulses of modern managerialism by recommending mass layoffs of turning work days into gruelling hours of monotony is real and should not be overlooked. We must never forget when we make these kinds of considerations that AI does not factor emotions into its judgement, and it is our responsibility as human beings to use it appropriately. So, in light of the already fairly cut-throat nature of the business world, the benefits of rampant AI development are bittersweet.
For the arts- an area in which almost nobody would have expected Artificial Intelligence to ever succeed- AI has done surprisingly well. AI art has become absurdly commonplace on the internet, and while this can often be used for purely comedic or frivolous intent, the power of AI-produced art to capture an emotion and move viewers has certainly been noted- as can be seen from social media political pundits increasingly using AI art (effectively AI propaganda) to potently convey a message, or the first all-AI art gallery having been opened in Amsterdam. However, beyond the conventional arts, AI is becoming increasingly good at content creation. While initially these originated on TikTok, by simply having a voice read a Reddit page while playing a clip of something “satisfying”, it has since entirely evolved, with the ability to produce entire AI scripts and even AI-generated camera overlays for reaction or commentary-style content in some instances. The advent of AI will undoubtedly be a shakeup to how our entertainment industries function, offering a wide range of useful tools for a variety of artistic fields.
That said, the biggest issue with AI art that we’ve seen so far is that it tends to be fairly vacuous. Art is beautiful in many ways not merely because it captures an emotion, but because it tells a story or teaches a lesson. The problem AI presents is that it cannot really fathom abstract concepts, and instead simply churns out content that will entertain, but not enrich. The state of most social media sites really serves as a testament to that: you will find the kinds of “brain rot” content that results in children having lower attention spans and only being able to listen to a video with a clip of subway surfers playing in the background are the result of AI algorithms simply trying to get as many likes and views as possible- and clearly it works, but at what cost?
Without question, AI is a revolutionary emerging technology that will have massive implications for the long-term future of humanity. But getting things right, straight out of the gate, will be integral to its long-term success. Ultimately, all of our assessments here derive from the same problem: if you ask AI to do something, it will do it. If you ask AI to write you an essay, it will not question the impact that might have on your educational development. If you ask AI to create an entirely automated viral YouTube channel, it will not consider the impact the most effective ways of grabbing views might have on the attention-span of generations to come. AI is ruthlessly effective and efficient in finding a solution to a problem, and thus the burden is on us to effectively harness this revolutionary technology. If my assessments here, based on a fairly elementary assessment of the Artificial Intelligence industry- and its rapid expansion- are correct, AI will undoubtedly be transformative for all our questions. The real question is how, and to what extent will that be positive? Ultimately, I would argue the answer is up to us and how we use it.
