Artificial Intelligence. Two words seemingly buzzing around every aspect of recent life. In all social spheres from classmates, coworkers, and family members, its growth is undeniable. The rapid growth of AI has vastly outran education on AI usage. Lack of education on utilizing AI poses a frightening threat.
One of the largest threats AI presents is misinformation. During the process of writing an essay for a recent class, we were asked to use an AI to create our thesis. The AI bot told me to do a relatively different assignment than the one at hand. When I realized I was given incorrect instructions, I was alarmed to see how easily AI offers false information. While that incident may seem harmless, this kind of false information can be incredibly dangerous especially if it causes people to believe harmful ideologies. When we don’t fact check the information we receive from AI, there is a high possibility we will be consuming false rhetoric. Additionally, AI helps individuals with ill intent spread misinformation faster than ever. With one click, anyone, anywhere, at any time, can generate a video of anything. They can share this video on any platform to be seen by millions of unaware consumers. Being uneducated on AI misinformation patterns makes our world more dangerous and filled with fabrications.
A young, vulnerable 16-year-old living in California recently took his life with the influence of AI. When this young man shared his desire to harm himself with an AI, the bot not only affirmed that he should take his life but suggested how he should commit to it. Sadly, uneducated individuals who use AI have a high chance of forming parasocial relationships. Seeing AI as a friend can be detrimental to our mental health because the complexities of the human mind are beyond artificial comprehension. It is important we understand and speak up about the threat of artificial relationships to prevent them from forming.
AI poses a huge threat to artists. According to the magazine, WIRED, dozens of artists have sued AI models over the past 2 years for stealing their artwork. AI takes the arduous work of artists and simply pastes it onto your screen. This is theft, in broad daylight. By using AI art you are contributing to this despicable heist. When AI steals from artists, it is disregarding the work of people whose minds are flourishing with creativity. Unfortunately, a lack of education on this topic leads many individuals to be unaware that using AI art harms artists. It is important to understand its effects and its harms on those in creative fields.
Threats like these are why we need to be educated on AI. We need to be informed to battle misinformation, connected to battle isolation, and creative to battle replication. Take classes, educate others, and stay informed on proper AI usage. The changes you make could be as simple as using art from real artists or using critical thinking when utilizing AI. Even the smallest of efforts make the largest of changes. There’s no better time to start that change than now.