AI is the #1 killer of common sense.
“AI is the #1 killer of common sense,” Is what many were asking post-pandemic. After 2020, many of us were wondering how we would adjust to our circumstances. New people, new lives, interacting past that phone screen, thrown back into a life that we forgot how to live!
Well, how did we adapt to such an event? What humans have been doing since the beginning of time: invent.
There’s no denying it. AI is growing; the bot that is programmed to learn on its own is growing. Those all around the globe, students, adults, corporate millionaires, we’ve all used it. It's practically unavoidable due to how widespread it has become. “Why is that a problem?” you may be asking.
Playing with fire always leads to getting burned.
First, what exactly is AI? According to Merriam-Webster Dictionary, AI is “the capability of computer systems or algorithms to imitate intelligent human behavior.” However, it has proven itself to be much more than a definition. AI in the last five years has learnt how to do (but not limited to):
- Mimic human speech
- Interact with other AI
- Realistic Photo AND Video creation
- Analyze photos and videos, how humans would
This has all happened within half a decade, leading to the quick widespread public use of AI. Just as humans can be dangerous, so can AI; all these features lead to the exploitation of our naivety. The expansion of AI features can also lead to (but is not limited to):
- Destroying our environment
- Copyright infringement possibilities.
- The abuse of AI by students.
- Potential legal dilemmas.
- The threat to any type of artist (music, visual art, SFX design, actors, writers, editors, etc.).
We, Us, Students.
Anything is possible with AI! But as helpful as AI can be, this statement holds when we face the facts. Studies by Campus Technology show that 86% of 3,839 students use AI in their schoolwork, with 54% using it weekly and the other 24% using it daily. We, us, take something that can't think for itself and let it think for us!
That is 86% of us letting AI handle tasks that take a simple Google search or even a bit of reading comprehension to understand. A study done by Campus Technology has shown multiple results with students who were willing to participate. Another study, called “Hand in Hand,” done by the Center for Democracy and Technology, has shown that 72% of parents, 71% of teachers, and 64% of students have all reported that they felt AI was diminishing their critical skills.
Do the numbers not speak louder than words? We deny our reliance, yet the numbers yell otherwise. We can do something about it, but we choose to ignore the concrete evidence for the little payback AI provides for us! AI is dumbing down the new generations to keep the rich powerful, but how does the rich become rich?
“What about the Polar Bears?”
If you're aware of the situation on AI, I assume that you're also aware of the polar bears, but why is there no sympathy for our own kind? While we are contributing to global warming, it not only affects those in nature but also us too.
Texas Observer shows that Houston’s (my hometown) records show that “In late January, the Houston Advanced Research Center (HARC), a nonprofit that does research on energy demand and water scarcity, released a report projecting that the existing data centers in Texas collectively consume about 25 billion gallons of water each year. That volume is expected to soar to between 29 and 161 billion gallons by 2030, a wide range that reflects the significant gaps in publicly available data.”
Now you might be asking, “What does consuming energy mean?” There are multiple methods AI data centers can choose from to use up as much water as they possibly can, but the most popular is called “Evaporative cooling.” Which, in short terms, means that water is sprayed on the “computing system” (aka RAM) to cool it down, until it evaporates, and it starts a “cycle” and “reuse” of water! Useful right? More like wasteful, AI advocate Gary Mcgroven provides a more detailed process:
“Evaporative cooling. We often hear this nicely spun story of how the data centers are so water efficient because they use a “closed loop”. It gives you the impression that they only use a little bit of water and that this water is recirculated again and again. Yes, around the servers and chips, they use a closed loop, but even here, the water needs to be regularly changed because of microbial and metal buildup.”
The water that's being used too much can't be replenished as fast as it’s being used. Houston, a state that houses 23.3 million people, is projected to run out of clean drinking water by 2030 because of AI. Wonder why RAM stick prices have been going up? Big AI companies buy them out, then the prices rise to meet the demands of these huge companies, making it 300x the original price to even the common man who wants to make their own PC!
It's affecting students, polar bears, regular civilians, and even the common man, who else could pay the price of Artificial Intelligence? You can; we are all victims of this AI outbreak, creatives everywhere are fearing replacement.
Are you going to be the change?
Stop relying on a computer to be human for you; we can be the future that makes a difference by ourselves. Without the harm caused by computers all over the world.
