AI Blog Daniel Estevez

 

    

AI Blog

    Now more than ever AI is constantly being talked about in 2023. With the introduction of OpenAI's ChatGPT, which was seen as beneficial for students, but also created a huge plagiarizing and academic dishonesty issue for schools all over the world. Many aren't too fond of it because of the problems it can come with. Nevertheless,  AI is revolutionizing many industries, opening new doors while also closing many for a lot of people in their jobs. Most people think of this technology as fascinating, due to how smart it is and the many things it can do. Although AI is great, many people fear for their jobs, as AI can easily take over with it's amazing abilities. Watching my classmates presentations definitely makes me exited for the future as AI continues to get better and better, offering tremendous technological advances in the future.

    When I first heard of people's fear of AI taking over many different types of professions, I thought to myself, maybe I'm majoring in the wrong field. I'm currently majoring in Public Relations. A big part of this career is writing press releases, media pitches and many things of that sort. AI can easily type that for me. I genuinely got scared as AI made me feel replaceable. I soon learned that although AI can write and type for me, my field also requires human connection and networking something that AI can't do.  This is a constant fear people have and the only way to know if AI will one day take over most jobs will be in the future. 

    While seeing my classmates presentations, I learned a lot of new things about AI and the ways it is being used. Many professors and students are using AI in the classroom. Professors are using this to detect grammatical errors and to detect plagiarism. AI has also helped researchers in tremendous ways. Those conducting research are now using AI to sort very large amounts of data, taking the load off of them. AI offers personalized learning, something very beneficial for students, since they all have various ways in which they take in information. When a student is writing an essay, they can input it into a Chatbox like ChatGPT and gain feedback on their writing. These Chatboxes can guide students with ways that they can improve their writing. AI doesn't just have to help students cheat, it can help them actually learn and improve in school. AI is also being used in the health industry as it uses digitized health-care data that is available in a various of formats including electronic health records, medical images and hand-written clinical notes used to automate tasks, and support clinicians. AI can offer a lot of positive advantages to various industries, helping them in many ways.

     In addition to that, other groups mentioned the cons of AI, one of them being a loss of the one on one connection students share with their teachers and professors in school. AI can impair some students social skills, making it harder for them to communicate with others. Students can also take advantage of AI and use it to cheat in their classes. They can simply tell AI to write an essay for them without them putting in any of the work. This can be a very damaging tool to students and professors as it carries these risks of students lying and cheating. 

    Moreover, AI can have a devastating effect on mental health. My peers included a very important detailed presentation on the effects it can have on people, since mental health is often overlooked and not talked about, the effects of AI isn't known to many. Some that use AI feel helpless and uncappable of doing many things, as they compare themselves to AI and the things it can generate. A lot of people also suffer from paranoia and AI does not make it easier for them. People are concerned for their safety as they believe AI could take over the world one day. These are all very valid fears and one never knows what can happen in the future. People also become very addicted to AI and constantly feel the need to use AI powered apps on their phones. This can lead to them being withdrawn from society, stuck in their own world.

    Although AI can be negative towards people's mental health, it can also be helpful. One of my peers pointed out how AI can identify and monitor mental health problems in people. This was great news to hear as therapists and psychologists now have this new tool to help them in their practice. Machine learning algorithms can analyze large amounts of data, like social media posts, speech patterns, and digital interactions, to detect subtle changes hinting of conditions like depression and anxiety. Also, AI platforms can help mental health specialists stay up to date with the latest research, therapy methods and practices, helping them giver their patients the best care possible.

    Over all, I couldn't have been happier that Professor Sinkoff chose the topic of AI for these group projects. AI has always been so interesting to me, and seeing all of us do research on this field and compile it into PowerPoint presentations has been great. I have learned so much more than I already knew about AI and coming to class to watch these presentations was so fun and interesting. AI has been such a big part of 2023, as it has recently emerged in a way we've never seen before, so the timing of this project couldn't have been better. I really enjoyed watching these presentations and took away the main factor that AI isn't here to replace us but to help us. AI should never be a replacement for the hard work a lot of us put in our day to day lives and should not be an easy way out for students and others to cheat on assignments. AI should a be tool we can all use in a responsible way.