Don’t Let AI Do The Laundry And Dishes

As I was walking across campus and past the Arbor two weeks ago, I noticed a large, looping arrow-shaped sign that asserted in bold black text “THIS WAY TO FREE GOOGLE GEMINI.” I saw a table giving out slippers, duffel bags, keychains, and disposable cameras all stamped with an unsuspecting star emblem. 

At first, I felt angry. I was angry at the students who were getting free merchandise and angry at the student representatives that thought it was appropriate to support an artificial intelligence brand on a university campus. I kind of wanted to knock the sign over, too. 

But as I was walking past the sign and into the library, filled with students working exhaustedly to pass their ever-demanding classes, I found that I could not – ought not – be angry with these students. What I could be angry at instead was the fact that we are all paying to be in a learning institution that does not identify us as learners but as workers. 

What is the role of a university? Is it to prepare students for the labor of their future full-time job? Or is it to equip them with knowledge that they are excited to learn and excited to apply? Because I think that the former is what really pushes students to use AI: it’s an education focused on output rather than a genuine passion for learning. 

is it wrong to use ai?

I’ve been boycotting AI for over a year now, sending disapproving looks to my friends who talk about using Claude for their homework and giving long-winded spiels about why AI is terrible for your brain and for the environment. 

And sure, a lot of people use AI for questionable and unnecessary things. But I don’t think that it’s their fault that AI has become so accessible in and integral to their lives. A (capitalist) culture such as ours doesn’t allow for people to simply enjoy what they do, and that encompasses education. They must get something out of it, because what are we if we are not constantly producing? We don’t even get to enjoy education because it has only become a means for us to get jobs and make more money. 

And even that is a lie. 

As someone who works at Career Services, I hear all the time that at the end of the day, it’s not the major or even the grades that will get you a job. But still, students are convinced that they ought to produce the best work possible so that they can get somewhere in life, and “best work” does not always mean their work. The issue is that the purpose of higher education has become something else: something with weeder classes where a genuine dedication to learning won’t even be enough for a student to succeed. 

what is the effect of ai on our lives?

I recently opened a document of my TA’s feedback on one of my writing assignments and was taken aback to see a ChatGPT response copied and pasted into the page. Although the class was not centered around grammar and punctuation but art, I was surprised to see that almost all of the feedback I got was not about my understanding of the reading but actually about how a certain sentence might be phrased better for clarity, or why the line spacing was slightly off.

I felt a little bit betrayed; or at the very least, indignant. After all, what’s the point of writing for someone if it isn’t being read? How much real growth and critical thinking are we going to sacrifice for the sake of convenience? 

Ultimately, it’s not just that AI is infiltrating our education. The issue cuts deeper than using AI for our homework. It’s the fact that in a consumer-capitalist society, we constantly fail to create for the sake of creating and learn for the sake of learning. We are losing, in a sense, what it means to be alive and human. 

what should ai’s role be?

Science fiction author Joanna Maciejewska once posted on X, “I want AI to do my laundry and dishes so that I can do art and writing, not for AI to do my art and writing so that I can do my laundry and dishes.”

But I kind of disagree with her. She’s right in that AI shouldn’t be taking over the creative and inherently human practices we participate in, like art and writing. But I also think that much of our lives are spent doing menial, monotonous tasks, like laundry and dishes. And yet we ought to, as humans, take the initiative to live all of these things fully. 

Much of our lives will still be centered around output and efficiency. But how many things are we trying to do for the sake of experiencing them and not for what comes out of it? 

I know that this question can get into some wacky philosophy. But the heart of it is that we should be pushing ourselves to start living every part of life as soon as possible. Thinking and doing and feeling are the only things we have. So let’s try not to take shortcuts: especially when it comes to life.

• AI
• burnout
• college
• education
• Gemini
• ucsb