Artificial intelligence’s increasing popularity alters our understanding of reality

the platform a viral sensation with over 100 million users in two months.

ChatGPT has proven to be a miracle for many, yet a peril for others. Through the lens of a venture capitalist, this artificial intelligence, or AI, is the holy grail of modern technological advancement, especially considering society’s recent prolonged hiatus of high-tech breakthroughs as well as the myriad challenges plaguing current tech corporations.

hindered. Instead of making rough drafts for essays or artworks from scratch, we will use AI to spew out a creation that seems uncanny to someone’s original work and generates praise.

Growing up, I considered myself to be tech-savvy. I would log onto my family’s chunky 2008 desktop with my sister and begin experimenting, seeing what kinds of creative projects we could make on the unfamiliar device. I taught myself how to draw masterpieces on Microsoft Paint and how to animate Microsoft Powerpoint slides to impress my peers during school presentations. At the time, this technology seemed revolutionary, and I was excited to see what the future held for the power of computers. Now, I am much more wary. This past November, OpenAI launched ChatGPT, a chatbot with the capacity to interpret a user’s prompt and return a realistic response to them. It is programmed to mimic speech patterns, understand words using context clues and relay accurate information. The company has made other programs that can generate pieces of art from text, solve quantum math problems and debug codes, among other uses. OpenAI is currently allowing the public to test the program for free, making

While investors throw their money to buy shares of OpenAI, others are alarmed by the implications of this program. Though the machine lacks a brain of its own or any science-fiction ulterior motive to harm humanity, ChatGPT threatens the current way society operates, spanning from investments to the education industry.

New York City public schools banned ChatGPT due to concerns over it being a possible impediment to learning, especially through cheating.

With the AI possessing the ability to write long, professional essays and answer complex math problems, it is unsurprising they banned the tool.

ChatGPT even made its way to the House of Representatives floor after Rep. Jake Auchincloss (D-Mass.) delivered a speech he generated entirely from AI. In my eyes, this speaks volumes about how frequently we will see this technology used in our day-to-day lives.

In the future, it’ll be much harder to tell what is human versus what is computer generated. As technology becomes better able to mimic human actions, creative practices we find ourselves often engaging in have the potential of being

AI-generated art has clashed against man-made creations already, making headlines multiple times. One notable instance was when a man in Colorado won an art competition for a piece he generated using Midjourney, beating artists who presented hand-crafted works.

In more extreme cases, some may find themselves relying heavily on AI for support as well. Whether it’s correcting code or asking basic history questions, people will feel an increased reliance on programs to help perform a variety of tasks. But this has the potential to be beneficial as well, especially for those seeking medical or mental health resources.

Studies show therapy apps operating through the use of AI can greatly benefit those who have anxiety or depression. People seeking help for mental illnesses can utilize programs like Wysa, which is proven to help decrease symptoms of certain disorders.

Ultimately, though, there’s no comprehension or thought behind the words AI spews out. While programs coded to help those struggling with mental health are extremely beneficial, everyone should not be turning to AI as their usual means of communication. If technology replaces in-person interactions with others, our society will be out of touch with reality and headed in an entirely new and frightening direction.

The history of AI programs is riddled with bias, emulating the darker side of human experiences. Oftentimes, softwares may function differently when dealing with women or people of color. ChatGPT falls right into this practice, having been recorded sharing racial slurs and using discriminatory language.

Bias in AI has been observed time and time again, even in programs created by big tech corporations. Amazon, for instance, was heavily criticized when their 2018 recruiting software exhibited sexist behaviors, placing women below men solely based on their gender. This happened because the program’s database for what it deemed to be a promising candidate was based on the company’s documents of hired employees over the previous decade, the grand majority of whom were men. The technology essentially taught itself to discriminate against women, and Amazon had to discontinue the use of the program all together.

In another case, Google’s artificial intelligence technology was accused of displaying racial bias. Their photo-service program labeled Black people as “gorillas” and placed them in a folder separate from other people.

This notion is extremely concerning, especially when looking at the way AI is being used more frequently in important industries. There are rumored AI lawyers representing human clients, AI medical assistants and even AI dentists in the works. If these programs display concerning behaviors and discriminate against certain groups of people, this could ultimately cause great damage to society, especially as we increase our dependence on them.

However, this technology is not something we should worry about at the moment. Although it currently observes impressive features, it will likely be a long while before it becomes powerful to the point of concern.

That isn’t to say I’m comfortable thinking that while my younger-self stared in amazement as I made my Google search bar do a barrel-roll, newer generations will normalize using AI to do their math homework. That concept still has a shock factor, but I’m certain every generation felt the same way about the technological advancements of those that came after them.

Overall, ChatGPT is an incredible tool that has many benefits and shows how far we have come in the advancement of technology. But this program has the power to negatively skew our understanding of reality when taken to the extreme.

In the meantime, AI companies should work on ensuring their software operates correctly and in an unbiased way before being used in both public and private settings. Considering there are currently no federal laws surrounding AI regulations, legislative powers should oversee programs with the potential to impact society on a great scale and ensure they are not operating in a harmful manner – especially when being used in legal circumstances – as observed many times in the past.

Megan Canizares Castillo is a second-year journalism and media studies combined major. She can be reached at canizares.m@northeastern.edu.