We're having a training session tonight about the use of AI in education. Prior to that, I was sent a questionnaire probing my thoughts on the subject. The last question was, "What is one task you would like AI to help you with?"
My answer?
"Making AI go away."
There was a big article in The Grauniad earlier this week in which academics relayed horror stories on the effect AI is already having on university education. You can read the whole thing, or if you can't handle the horror / your brain can't handle long-form information any more... here are a few choice quotes...
“I now talk about AI with my students not under the framework of cheating or academic honesty but in terms that are frankly existential,” said Dora Zhang, a literature professor at the University of California, Berkeley. “What is it doing to us as a species?”
Michael Clune, a literature professor and novelist, said that, already, many students have been left “incapable of reading and analyzing, synthesizing data, all kinds of skills”. In a recent essay, he warned that colleges and universities rushing to embrace the technology were preparing to “self-lobotomize”.
...several professors spoke about concerns that AI will exacerbate a widening divide in US higher education and that small numbers of elite students will have access to a more traditional, largely tech-free liberal arts education, while everyone else has a “degraded, soulless form of vocational training administered by AI instructors”.
...when it comes to its impact on students, early studies point to potentially catastrophic effects on cognitive abilities and critical thinking skills.
I asked the AI Overlords, "How can we make AI go away?" and they responded with lots of suggestions about how to "reduce AI’s influence on daily life", "advocate for regulation" or "limit AI access to your data".
Underneath all that, it added:
If you’re asking something deeper like:
“Can we stop the development of AI entirely?”
“Can society reverse the AI trend?”
…then the honest answer is: probably not, at least not completely. Once a technology is widespread globally, it behaves like the internet, electricity, or cars — we can regulate and restrict it, but we can’t make it disappear.
But you absolutely can control how much AI is part of your world, and even influence the broader conversation about its role in society.
So I'm writing this blog post. Because that's all I've got left.
People like to say that we're insane
But AI will reward us when it reigns
Pledge allegiance to the world's most powerful computer
Simulation: it's the future
What will it take to make you capitulate?
We appreciate power
We appreciate power
Elevate the human race, putting makeup on my face
We appreciate power
We appreciate power, power
