Opinion

Head-To-Head: The role of A.I. in our society

Ben Stavnezer and Ray Colabawalla • November 8, 2024

A.I. has done damage already

By Ben Stavnezer
Layout Editor
[email protected]

Artificial intelligence has no place in our world. This miraculous new technology has proven “behind the curtain” to include unethical data collection and be an utterly irresponsible use of technology. It also has the side effect of undermining human creativity and accomplishment. All so-called AI can do is regurgitate a slop of human-made work, creating nothing new on its own.
Creativity is humanity’s greatest strength and defines the reasons why we live. Despite AI’s ability to create technically complete works of art, algorithms intrinsically lack feelings, life experiences, fears, joys, pains or dreams. An algorithm has no self-awareness or understanding of its own mortality. AI creates art by analyzing data and recreating the patterns that it finds, without understanding the meaning or emotion behind those patterns.
I cannot deny that AI is a very powerful tool, but it is only as powerful as the data it is fed. We know very little about where these models get the colossal petabytes upon petabytes of data they need to be trained, how that data is being used and what protections people have when it comes to our information being used. To train AI, companies claim they use the internet, which provides data that is relatively easy to scrape up — but that process does not distinguish between copyrighted works or personal data. If the creators do not provide accurate representative data, the resulting AI systems become biased and unfair.
Also notable is the very real negative impact AI technology has on our planet. The storage facilities that contain AI and the many connected data servers produce electronic waste. They are large consumers of water, rely on critical minerals and rare elements — which are often mined unsustainably and use massive amounts of electricity, spurring more emissions of greenhouse gases.
The internet has already made information a press-of-a-button away. If AI starts taking over the jobs of everything from doing math problems, researching and writing papers to editing photos and making “original” art, people will be tempted to use AI in every part of their lives, destroying our ability to think creatively.

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A.I. will dull us, but only if we let it

By Ray Colabawalla
Contributing Writer
[email protected]

Artificial intelligence is transforming our world, and I believe it has potential and pitfalls. While some worry that AI might make us lazy or even dull by solving simple tasks for us, such as short answer questions or summaries, this concern speaks more to how we choose to use AI rather than the usefulness of AI itself. With a more ethical and balanced approach on our end, AI has the power to benefit society, enhancing human capability rather than replacing it.
AI’s potential to expand educational opportunities is one of its greatest advantages. Students today can turn to AI-powered tools like language translation apps, personalized tutoring programs or writing assistants to support learning in new and personally tailored ways. For example, writing aids like Grammarly help students improve their writing by providing immediate feedback on grammar and clarity that may otherwise be limited by time constraints in a traditional classroom. However, using these tools effectively means viewing them as helpers in the learning process rather than shortcuts to skip the effort. When used thoughtfully, AI can enrich learning by supplementing human effort as a tool rather than substituting for it.
Furthermore, AI can significantly streamline research and academic work. Students managing heavy course loads can use AI to help organize notes, sort through resources and suggest relevant materials for their studies. This assistance frees up time for critical analysis and deeper engagement with the subject matter rather than getting bogged down by organizational and menial tasks. But this also raises a concern about ethical use: The aim is to use AI as a supportive tool that amplifies our intellectual work, not one that shortcuts it.
Ultimately, AI has the potential to benefit society when used responsibly, serving as a powerful tool to enhance productivity, creativity and personal well-being. Concerns that AI might make us lazy are understandable, but they are preventable. The impact of AI depends on how we choose to incorporate it into our lives; as a tool that supports and empowers human effort rather than replaces it. With careful, ethical use, AI can be a significant asset to our generation, contributing meaningfully to education, health and beyond.
As our overlord and savior, Sam Altman, has decreed: OpenAI’s mission is to ensure that artificial general intelligence (AGI) benefits all of humanity.

About the Contributor

Ben Stavnezer, Layout Editor

Ben Stavnezer is a sophomore from Wooster, Ohio. He is majoring in Communications with a double minor in Arts, Science and Innovation, and English. This is his first year on staff as a layout editor. When he isn't rooting through the depths of InDesign, you'll find him listening to jazz on his WARC radio show, reading sci-fi books or hiking Pennsylvania's beautiful forests.

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Recent Alum • Nov 17, 2024 at 11:18 am

The issue with this “head to head” is the lack of understanding between Generative AI and Assistive AI. These two are not actually arguing against each other: both seem to agree that Assistive AI is a useful tool for everyone to use. Grammarly is /assistive/ AI with a generative AI feature (which actually does not improve your writing, and has serious issues with grammar).

Assistive AI has existed for decades. The ability to find words in your assigned readings despite the document being scanned? That’s AI. Some finding aids utilized in search engines? AI. Those keyboard word recommendations? That’s prediction AI.

The issue is with Generative AI that creates entire essays and art (that Allegheny College has actively engaged in, and don’t seem to care about). This is what makes this type of AI destroy the environment, and yes, it will absolutely “dull” people, and it already has. We cannot keep having this conversation about AI if we don’t actually work to understand it.


https://alleghenycampus.com/24860/opinion/head-to-head-the-role-of-a-i-in-our-society/#comment-72288