Technology

AI: Awesome or Abysmal? 

Artificial Intelligence (AI) technology has revolutionized the way we live our lives, transforming our industries, and reshaping our whole education system. 

AI technology is creating new forms of learning for students and educators. AI technology generates text, video, art, and even music with just a click. AI bots can even generate jokes: “Why did the AI go to therapy? Because it had too many unresolved issues with its algorithms!” 

Because AI is everywhere, I decided to ask SUNY Old Westbury students their opinions about AI and how it will impact our future. 

Question: Do you use AI technology?  What are your opinions on Artificial Intelligence, and how do you see it impacting our relationship with technology and learning in the future?

“ I use AI technology when I need help with something. For example, I use it when I need to find something innovative for my TikTok editing. Through ‘CapCut’, I use its AI software in order to help me with voice overs and other editing techniques. 

I think it’s useful that AI technology is able to produce any sort of helpful information in a matter of seconds, rather than having to figure it out for yourself in multiple minutes. 

I noticed that in India, they have their first automated AI human that covers news on their news stations. It was hard to identify if that was a human or AI in general! 

When it comes to our education system, I see AI taking the place of our professors’ roles by teaching a class for them. Like if they can’t come in for the day, AI technology can step in and teach the material instead. That way, professors can be at ease knowing that a class is still getting an interactive learning experience, even if they can’t do it themselves” 

– Faizan Zahid, Senior at SUNY OW

“ I do use AI technology! With a professor’s permission, I use chatbots to bounce my ideas off of in order to talk at something, without having to necessarily take their advice. I use it to get my ideas out, plan out how I get through assignments, and gather my own thoughts. Besides this, I definitely do probably use AI technology more than I even realize. 

I feel like the technology shouldn’t be feared the way it is, and should really be used to benefit the working class, instead of big companies using it to phase out physical human employees. 

I also disagree with using AI to cheat in school, but using it to benefit our knowledge is harmless. I feel like a lot of people need to realize this. Especially our education system. Because once they do, everyone would be able to embrace and utilize AI technology positively, without breaking any institutional guidelines” 

– Jedidiah Zervos, Freshman at SUNY OW

“I don’t use AI Technology for any personal reasons, but I have looked into it out of curiosity. It is a huge convenience for people in the tech field, or even the writing field. You can give an AI a prompt, and in return it gives you a whole story. It’s very impressive. 

While I realize that AI technology has done a lot for humans, it has also brought a few negatives. Through the use of ‘Deep Faking’, AI is able to edit anyone doing anything, even if it’s incriminating. Then when someone else comes across it, they don’t think twice about it being fake. That’s a very big negative. 

When it comes to education itself, it can be a very big convenience for others. And in the future I see it taking over our old school methods of obtaining information. If we can use AI technology alongside our standard methods of education, rather than for nefarious reasons, I see It becoming more of a positive thing for us all” 

-Jalaal McCoy, Senior at SUNY OW

“I use AI Technology when I use my ‘Smart Home’ in order to set timers, alarms, or even just play music. I don’t use things like ‘Chatgpt’, but I am aware that the ‘Smart Home’ does utilize AI Technology in order to do its job. 

I think it’s a promising technology because it’s able to help people solve things faster, and is constantly making our devices more smart and efficient. But now we have been quite dependent on it. Is that a good thing? I don’t know. But it’s important, and it’s big. 

I also do think that AI can be helpful for people in their education, but it is easily abused. If teachers could somehow use AI technology in a classroom setting, but in a productive way, I could see our relationships with AI usage being more positive. And the more we make AI technology more snappy and responsive, the more our education will become more snappy and responsive. The more we evolve this technology, the more we evolve as well.”

 -Ethan Ford, Sophomore at SUNY OW

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