Is AI becoming our future or our end?

AI is a very big deal right now. It feels like a new app or tool comes out every day, all controlled by AI. Everyone says it’s going to improve the world for the better and solve big world problems such as climate change and poverty. But last year at school, I saw everyone just using AI for things as simple as essays and they wouldn’t even try to hide it.

Honestly, it sounds like a sales pitch but I’ve been thinking a lot about it, and I have a deep feeling that AI could be the biggest mistake we’ve ever made. We’re putting all our faith in it without even thinking about the consequences.

AI systems are getting smarter, but they don’t have a sense of right or wrong. They can give huge amounts of data, but it can still be wrong. I mean, I’ve read about how AI can just make things up; they call it “hallucinating.” How can we trust technology that can choose to lie to us?

We’re building something smarter than humans that’s all technical but it’s stopping people from doing their own work. An article from Time Magazine mentioned a study from MIT that showed students who used AI for essays or anything else had lower brain engagement and got lazier over time. It’s like we are losing the ability to think for ourselves, which is not good.

The people in charge aren’t being responsible. It’s a race between companies to build the best AI first, and they don’t even care about the consequences. I read an interview with Geoffrey Hinton, who is basically known as the “Godfather of AI,” and he said that companies are just focused on “short-term profits” and are ignoring the serious, long-term risks. It’s exactly what I was thinking; they’re all about the money and power, and that’s why this is so dangerous. 

We’ve all become so dependent on AI, and it’s not making us better. Besides the risk of us losing our critical thinking, I read that some experts are even worried about “AI psychosis,” where people could start losing touch with reality from talking to AI too much. While yes, AI is helping with things such as cars and the internet but when it comes to the human mind and our smarts, we aren’t using them like we’re supposed to. 

I do think in some ways AI is being used for good and could pave a path for the future. But after seeing everything I have, I don’t think it’s really worth it. We are giving up our smarts for technology, and if we let AI do all our work, there won’t be a future for us at all.