Editorial

Artificial Intelligence is Here to Stay

The use of artificial intelligence (AI) is on the rise with the recent advent of ChatGPT and advancements in the medical field; it has the potential to completely change the way we interact, learn, and live.

Though there known positives to AI, its existence also threatens the way of life for many artists, musicians, and writers. Naturally, the editors of The Outlook have a special stake in the AI-debate as student journalists and avid writers.

One editor, started, “I believe AI will do more harm than good. It already has the power to mimic people’s voices and cause them to say anything someone is willing to type up. As this technology becomes better over time, it will lead to a greater spread of misinformation.”

A different editor agreed, saying, “I believe it will do more harm than good. As humans, we are biologically wired whereas AI is digitally wired. With that being said, they can learn from us. Some might say that we have had AI already such as Siri on our iPhone. Although, what AI is turning into now, is a step up from any of that, and is now a completely different type of intelligence.”

“Things such as algorithms and the like seem harmless, and they virtually are, but the more-developed AI such as ChatGPT pose a huge threat to individuals such as artists and writers,” continued another editor, “Why would someone pay one of these individuals to create something when they can code an AI to do it for them?”

While most of the editors believe AI will do more harm than good, the editors do recognize that AI will likely feel more normal as society continues to make different technological advancements.

For example, people never thought that we would use phones every day, and now they are an essential part of first-world society.

“I believe AI will be more normalized in the future. Phones are a normal aspect of our society now, but 20 years ago this was not the case,” said an editor.

“I think AI is already being normalized,” concurred one editor, “It’s constantly around us in everything. A lot of people think AI is just robots or futuristic machines, but AI is also chat bots that pop up on computer sites and on your phone when you use face ID.”

Another editor, added, “With technology continually evolving at such a quick rate, there will be things that will be created in the future that will make us feel the same way we might feel now about AI, and AI will already be normalized at that point.”

With AI being further normalized, what does that mean for future jobs? What jobs will be in danger, and how will people make money? One editor, answered, “I believe jobs in the food industry could be taken over by AI. As scary as that sounds, and trusting a robot to make your food, this has already been tested in multiple places.”

“As someone whose passion is screenwriting, I am always told that I should not pursue this as a career due to AI’s ability to write its own scripts. As of now, AI cannot create scripts that resemble human writing. They appear too robotic and unnatural. In the future, I am unsure that this will still be the case. It’s always a thought in the back of every person who pursues a career in English/writing’s mind. As for other jobs, I believe AI will have the ability to take over any type of computer job,” an editor elaborated.

“I 100% believe that certain jobs will be taken over by AI. I feel as if that has been a topic of conversation for a while now. The question used to be, ‘Will robots take over certain jobs?’ but I believe that AI is one step ahead of that, especially with this different type of intelligence we are seeing. Considering it is becoming so complex that AI is able to learn from humans, and humans can wire them to do what they want, I believe we will see AI taking over jobs in no time.”

Another editor, said, “Absolutely. Big companies want cheap/inexhaustible labor that is able to be pumped out at rapid speeds. I believe that, because of this, we will start to see a slow decline of more originality-based jobs, such as artists and writers. Though the human mind cannot be replicated, people seem as if they don’t necessarily care.”

The growth of AI is definitely ongoing, and while the future is still unknown how it will impact certain aspects of life all people can do is hope for the best and pray circumstances will work out.