I’m sure I am not the only one who has spent time watching TV shows or movies in the past few decades, where AI was seen as a new, interesting, distant topic. The first one that came to mind was AIDA (Artificial Intelligent Digital Assistant) from Marvel’s show Agents of Shield. While knowing this was a Sci-Fi show, I didn’t pursue the topic any further, and just accepted it as another wild idea that probably won’t impact my life.
Boy, was I wrong!!
It’s not like my daily life has been changed overnight, or over the past decade for that matter, AI is slowly but surely being integrated into today’s society, and the advancements have been exciting, scary, and everything in between, all at once.
While using ChatGPT, I have gone through and made some exemplary work for some of my upcoming assignments in ELA for my Grades 7 and 8s. With no other information except for the assignment question, I got immediate, top-quality work. Here is from one of them:
Chorus: Pipeline, pipeline, it’s a hard life Danger all around Pipeline, pipeline, it’s a hard life Hazards to be found
Verse 2: I’ve been working on the pipeline In the scorching summer heat But the risk of fire is real And it’s a constant treat
Chorus: Pipeline, pipeline, it’s a hard life Danger all around Pipeline, pipeline, it’s a hard life Hazards to be found
Bridge: We work hard to keep it flowing But the dangers never cease Pipeline, pipeline, it’s a hard life But we’ll keep it running, with peace
Chorus: Pipeline, pipeline, it’s a hard life Danger all around Pipeline, pipeline, it’s a hard life Hazards to be found
Outro: Pipeline, pipeline, it’s a hard life But we’ll keep it moving on Pipeline, pipeline, it’s a hard life With dangers, we’ll stay strong.
But how is this any different than computing programs, such as Wolfram Alpha, where I can put in a Math equation, and it spits out the results in seconds, and shows me all of the intermediate steps, if you have the paid version? Some of these AI softwares are also paid versions, which can complete work in fractions of the time. And while University Math and Science professors encourage programs like Wolfram Alpha, can we still discourage AI technologies?
If we want to encourage students to use higher order of thinking, then we should stop asking them to complete tasks that technology can complete.
