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Artificial Intelligence in College

Artificial intelligence (AI) is the ability of a computer or a robot controlled by a computer to do tasks that are usually done by humans because they require human intelligence and discernment.

Cons

Trash into computer trash comes out

What goes in is what comes out!

GAITs were trained mainly on information from the open internet.  Many of those sources are biased, and GAITs may magnify that bias.

Additionally, any bias in the human-provided prompt results in a biased response from the GAIT.

Hand typing with other hand holding cell phone. Locks and other security images overlay. What's your privacy worth?

Tech companies collect user input to further train the GAITs. Many tech companies do not allow their employees to use GAITs for work, out of fear that confidential information will be compromised.

Recently, Zoom had to revise their terms and conditions involving data collection for training their GAITs. It appeared that Zoom would collect all data from meetings on their platform, and use it to train their GAIT. There was such an outcry over the implied breach of privacy for school and corporations that Zoom walked back that policy. 

As much as tech companies collect user data, keep in mind that information shared with GAITs may be used to craft a future response.

Computer and AI symbols indicating Incorrect ResponsesYou're smarter than GAITs!

GAITs do not understand or analyze their output. Like their (much less advanced) auto-fill cousins, GAITs just "guess" what word is most likely to come next, regardless of sense or accuracy. They are also known to "hallucinate" or make things up that are completely inaccurate or fictional. 

For example, I once asked for recipes that used no more than 1 cup milk, 1/4 cup sugar, and 1/3 cup oil.  Even though milk was one of the ingredients, ChatGPT called all the recipes "dairy free."

Ethical Concerns

Venn diagram with Ethics on a blue side, and Generative Artificial Intelligence on the yellow side, with AND emphasized in the overlapping section.

Ethical Academic Use

Different professors will have different standards for how to handle GAIT use in their classroom. Some will not allow any use, in which case, there is not a way to use them ethically for that course.  When they are allowed, ethical academic use requires citations and transparent documentation of exactly how it was used. Consider keeping copies of the transcripts in case your professor wants to see them as well.

 

Man and robot sitting waiting for an interview.Employment Impact

GAITs require humans to train the models, and the companies responsible for doing so often traumatize and exploit those human employees. 

OpenAI, the company responsible for ChatGPT, used Kenyan workers making less than $2.00 per hour to train ChatGPT and DALL-E. Many of these employees have developed severe mental disorders, lost their families, and filed lawsuits over their treatment and the materials they were exposed to.

Additionally, companies want to use GAITs to reduce staffing and personnel costs. Many companies have already laid people off in anticipation of an AI being able to take jobs over. One, an eating disorder hotline, had to re-hire humans after the AI gave damaging advice.

Computer garbage dump on fireEnvironmental Impact

GAITs require significant resources to run. This includes water to cool the servers and many rare metals and minerals.  The water use contributes to drought, and the mining for the metals and minerals damages the environment. Additionally, the power use needed to run the GAIT servers is astronomical. These are just a few of the environmental concerns exacerbated by GAIT use.