Google’s “Dear Sydney” ad

[JoelR]

AI is becoming more integrated into our lives, from helping with homework to even assisting in writing letters. But when does using AI cross the line from helpful to harmful? Recently, Google released an Olympic-related ad that stirred up quite a bit of controversy. The ad featured a father using AI to write a letter to an Olympic athlete on behalf of his daughter. Critics were quick to argue that the ad sent the wrong message, suggesting that AI should replace something as personal and creative as a child’s heartfelt words.

This brings up an important question: Are we letting technology do too much for us, especially when it comes to creative tasks? Shouldn’t children be encouraged to express themselves, imperfections and all? After all, isn’t the charm of a child’s writing in its authenticity and innocence?

On the other hand, some argue that AI can be a helpful tool, giving us ideas or inspiration when we’re stuck. But where do we draw the line? Is there a risk that we’re teaching future generations to rely too much on technology, instead of their own creative minds?

“We don’t want this technology to replace the things that we love, these creative pursuits,”

“Outsourcing that to AI just takes away everything special about it.”

 

[Chris Anderson]

I'm in favor of using AI to help improve upon one's word choice and sentence structure to elevate one's writing. Replace a sentence here and "maybe" a paragraph there but the bulk of the writing should fall squarely upon the writer.

Whatever positive contributions that AI provides should be used as an opportunity to improve upon one's writing not as a substitute. 

AI should not be used by children without adult guidance as to when and how it is utilized.  Ethical usage should also be taught to them by both parents and their teachers, and they should be held accountable for lapses in judgement. 

As the English language is so full of words that mean the same thing, AI may prove useful to one wanting to expand their vocabulary as it might suggest words you might not have chosen but are perfectly acceptable to use or elevates the sentence to a higher level.  The difference between an eighth-grade level sentence and a college-level sentence for example.

I attended an AI in Education conference in April and the ethical use of AI was discussed in every breakout session.  The advancement of AI is happening too quickly, and educators are really worried about its effect on educational outcomes. There were dozens of startups exhibiting their wares and I talked to many of them.  Most of the products were in an Alpha state at best and many of the attendees only stopped briefly at each booth seeming to indicate that they too were not impressed by the quality of the product or how AI was being implemented.

Time and thoughtful implementation are warranted but investors are in a rush to get a return on their billions in investment. I anticipate an AI investment crash as venture capitalists will want to pull out to get back some of their investment back and everyday investors will unlikely buy their shares as they will consider them too risky. Leaders of AI companies leaders seem to be flamboyant risk takers that don't take the end-users concerns into much consideration.

I used AI a bit as a schoolteacher this year.  I was so focused on writing at the college level after work that I struggled a bit to write lessons at the second grade or third grade level's more conversational level.  So, I would input my text into copilot and ask it to rewrite it at the first-grade level.  That was a helpful use of AI at least for me. The sentences were much wordier and used simpler vocabulary than I am inclined to.  I could do it by myself, but it would have taken up my evenings doing so. 

Google's marketing team erred in releasing this video and deserved to be called out.

[Chris Anderson]

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