Artificial Intelligence, or AI, technology has increased in capability and prevalence in recent years. Since ChatGPT’s mainstream release in 2022, AI services have expanded to almost every online platform. Instagram, Spotify, Google and even some smart TVs use AI in their products. Although a clear hindrance to society, we need to know how to ethically and responsibly use AI, because it is not going anywhere.
AI is problematic in many ways that affect all of us. For one, the environmental impact of AI is enormous. Using 10 times the energy of a Google search and huge amounts of water, AI increases the strain human activity puts on the environment and furthers the negative effects of climate change. In Lancaster city, a new AI data center is planned for construction amidst major opposition. Residents cited energy use and environmental impact as main reasons for their concerns. Clearly, AI’s effect on the climate is a major issue that local communities care about.
Furthermore, ethics is a major issue in the use of AI. Image generation software commonly uses art from existing artists without permission when creating a new piece. Since it completely ignores copyright and fair use laws, many artists are upset with AI for not properly crediting them. Likewise, student AI use is an important ethical issue in schools. Due to the common use of ChatGPT to write essays and complete homework, teachers are frequently skeptical if a student’s work is truly theirs. Handwritten essays and AI detection softwares are becoming more and more popular to avoid this, but they are not without their issues. In fact, I was falsely accused of using AI on a paper, and it was a huge headache.
Since it was our first time writing a paper in this class, my teacher allowed us to submit our drafts to get feedback and then resubmit the final version for a grade a few weeks later. When I submitted my draft to Turnitin, its AI detection software flagged significant sections of my paper as being written by AI. As a result, my teacher refused to read these sections, and would not give me any feedback. After many conversations with my parents, teachers and administration, my teacher agreed to provide feedback on the flagged sections, although I did not have much time before the final deadline. This whole process was immensely frustrating for everyone involved, and ultimately led to the creation of a section on AI detection software in the student handbook. My experience with AI and its academic issues shows how this technology causes problems for both teachers and students.
These are important issues that have convinced many, including myself, that AI should be avoided. However, this is becoming increasingly more difficult as AI infiltrates every digital space. Every time a Google search is made, an AI overview of the results automatically appears at the top of the screen. Social media platforms like Instagram use AI to create and recommend content. And as the end of the year approaches, take note of your Spotify Wrapped- it controversially used AI last year.
Seeing as AI is virtually unavoidable in our society, its ethical and environmental problems are more obvious now than ever. Instead of getting rid of AI, though, it makes more sense to learn to use it ethically and innovate around these problems. Scientists are applying AI to climate issues, predicting and modeling extreme weather and global changes at scales traditional computers cannot handle. As technology continues to improve, it may be able to solve the problems that it causes. In the meantime, we can use AI as responsibly as possible. For one, by not generating images, AI becomes a lot less problematic for artists. In addition, avoid using ChatGPT for school assignments, to mitigate academic dishonesty. By making these changes, we can feel a little better about using AI, despite all of its issues.
