As a digital native, you are surrounded by technology every day, to the point you can’t even live without tech assistance. Don’t know the answer to a lingering thought you have? Google it. Need to keep your “to-do” list in check? Set an automatic reminder with Alexa. Want to know if the rumored breaking news is real? You might even check a social media app before opening a news article. Whether you are a student or in the workforce, technology is ingrained in everything you do.
As someone who is considered both Gen Z and a student, I understand how important technology is for personal or academic endeavors. Yet, I also feel like it’s taking a bit too much of my life, possibly for others, too.
For the first time, I am seeing the use of AI becoming more frequent than ever. Many of the mobile apps on our phones started to include AI as a function. As someone who is attending university, I see students use ChatGPT AI every day. Then, when I come home, I see commercial ads filled with AI “art”. My Google questions are sometimes answered with incorrect “AI overview” answers. I think to myself: AI is not our best friend. Why, as a collective, are we allowing it to take over?
More Harm Than We Think
Remember Disney Pixar’s movie Wall-E? You know the movie where we see a crumbled, destroyed world, and the humans sit and rely on machines for everything. That’s us.
It’s scary. People around me have developed the habit of using AI for creative ideas, for writing emails, and for talking to ChatGPT as if they are a therapist. In some other cases, people use it as romantic partners, and others have dug themselves into unfortunate situations. It’s not just a few individuals; it’s also artists and companies. How many more times will I see a TV commercial ditching animation made by real artists for blurry, moving AI images? Are we really excited to see new AI actors? On a more serious note, how many more victims of deepfaking will we see, and will there be any safety precautions for those vulnerable to these acts?
It’s alarming to see the rate of AI usage increase. Alright…I can admit I had laughed at AI cat videos on Instagram before, but to ruin my fun, I do think back at headlines I read about the amount of energy it takes for AI to develop an answer or a fake video. The world is in the middle of a global environmental crisis, and with the increase of AI “art” and search engines, it only feels like the world has gone one step forward and two steps back on environmental progress. How much more damage can our planet take if a large collective keeps using AI for tasks that we humans can do?
As a student, I find it quite frustrating to hear other classmates talk about using ChatGPT as “assistance”. Just the other day, I was sitting behind a student in class who was hitting copy and paste from ChatGPT onto a school discussion post. My jaw dropped. This is just one of the many instances that had shocked me. As students, we are privileged enough to get an education. Whether it’s the parents, students themselves, or scholarships, someone or something is paying thousands of dollars for education at a higher level, just for someone to throw it all away for a machine. College should be a place to learn and develop skills in a certain area of study. With AI as a new “tool”, I feel that a growing number of students will start to take education and learning new skills for granted.
Maybe I am the friend who is ruining the fun, but I don’t think using ChatGPT as a search engine or an assistant to do your work is worth the damage to both our global habitat and our humanity. We lived in a time when we didn’t “need” to rely on AI and instead used our ability to create something from nothing with our creative minds. A time when we relied on the human brain for creating art and entertainment, for solving equations, and for writing essays or novels. Will we ever go back to a time where our humanity is valued more than a machine?