Sage Campbell

Humanities 12

Ms. Terry

October 24th, 2023

Prompt: To what extent do you predict Artificial Intelligence will harm or help humanity? Support

your claim with reasoning and evidence.

Artificial Intelligence, AI, is a useful and powerful tool. In the future, I think that AI will

potentially help humanity and the world as a whole. AI is still new, and it can, and will be used in

multiple areas and fields as it continues to evolve and extend in usage. There, of course, is a

looming threat of the power that AI can potentially have, the legacy of AI is ultimately our

responsibility and we, as a society, have control over the fate of AI. Considering that, AI is

already being used in a myriad of ways that are beneficial to humanity; if we use AI correctly

and mindfully in the future it will continue to do so.

AI stands for Artificial Intelligence, at its core AI is a programmed tool made by people

for people. Many of us know about AI, or have even used it ourselves. AI is more than just a

future robot waiting to take over the world. AI has been lingering and evolving in the background

of technology for over a decade now. Chances are, if you’ve used technology or a computerized

device in the past decade, then you’ve probably used AI. AI covers a broad range of

technological uses, it is just in the past couple of years that creative uses for AI have been

explored. For example, an AI that we don’t think about but use on a regular basis is Siri. Siri, the

digital assistant in Apple iPhones, is considered an AI and helps thousands or users regularly.

The same goes for Amazon’s Alexa, and Google’s Echo and Dot. All of these are considered AI,

and they help people in a slew of ways.

AI has been part of the way we use technology, even if unknowingly, for a while now. But

what does the future of AI look like and what role will humans play in that future? The answer is
more simple than the robot uprising movies we see. How we develop and use AI right now will

determine how we will view and use AI going forward. AI, right now, is being used more than

ever before and we haven’t experienced the fallout of that yet. For example, AI is being used for

jobs, school, personal interests, and recreation.

In the job sector, I think many fear that Ai will take over many jobs do people in the

workforce will become obsolete. For some this may be a valid concern to hold, but for most it is

irrational. AI may start to take over small data and research based jobs like budget accountants

and paralegals. But those positions would be managed by people and would still need people

as a reference.

In the school and education sector, the largest fear among those who are opposed to AI

is plagiarism and authenticity. Luckily there are tools for educators to detect if an AI, like

ChatGPT for example, are being misused in that way. As far as authenticity goes, AI, at its

current level, cannot replicate human emotion and nuance in writing, speech, or creativity. AI

may never be able to recreate human experience, because as it stands it is artificial and

programmed to work that way. AI has also been a useful asset to students who may have

learning difficulties or those who want to refine their own work. Grammarly, a software extension

and writing assistant, is a stellar example of this. It helps students with grammar without taking

away from the writer’s ideas or unique writing style.

The use of personalized AI and AI for recreation is on the rise. AI has been used in the

job and education sectors for almost a decade now, but has only recently been widely used on a

personal level. Some examples of this are the Snapchat assistant, TikTok’s cap cut templates,

and online AI art generators. These AI capabilities are growing, but also helping people to

expand their creativity through the use of AI.

As AI is becoming more prevalent everyday, some fear that AI will take over and cause

unprecedented harm. But this isn’t a sci-fi movie about robots and AI taking over. The looming

threat of an “AI takeover” is due to the concept of true AI. True AI is when an AI, equivalent
program, gains consciousness or free will so to say. Although it is an interesting concept and

concern, the fact is that true AI hasn’t been achieved and humanity isn’t close to achieving true

AI. If true AI is ever achieved, it won’t be in our lifetimes.

The use of AI will only continue to rise, as it comes in many forms and has many

functions. Moving forward, AI will be used in a lot of different ways. Some that we haven’t even

thought about yet. It may be used for harmful purposes, but it will continue to help humanity and

be a beneficial tool for many. The fate of AI ultimately comes down to our intentions and use of

it. If we use it poorly, it will yield poor results. If our intentions are immoral, then the outcomes

will probably be immoral. The science and technology we create isn’t inherently good or bad, it

is how we use that science and technology. Science itself has no bias, but the people who use it

do. AI isn’t intrinsically harmful or helpful to humanity, how and what we use it for affects those

outcomes. We will continue to use AI and I believe that we will use it well.