Author: Caleb Lumbert

Source: The Daily Star

The picture above was not made by a human. It is not the result of a  constructive thought process, but was actually made in seconds, generated by artificial intelligence (AI)

Over the past year, AI has been in the mainstream media because of its rapid, extreme advancement . AI used to be  a much more complicated process, but now there are whole apps dedicated to making AI art, like the image pictured above. More recently, people on Tik Tok have used AI to make AI voice-generated impressions of presidential figures, but these have been used for a more comedic tone rather than for harm. This may sound scary to  people who are not aware of the capacity of AI. So far it has been harmless, but only time will tell. 

Conspiracy theorists have always been  throwing out phrases such as “AI is taking over,” but now this seems like a possibility not limited to just conspirators. This new wave of AI generators is young–barely a year old–so there is no way to tell how far it will go in the future.  The AI possibilities are endless, because it is supposed to mimic humans and our intelligence.

I talked to some people around McClatchy’s campus about their thoughts about AI. The first person I talked to was Nathen, who said “It’s… cool. It’s good.” Victor had a more pessimistic and humorous outlook on the topic, saying, “We about to end up like I, Robot,” in reference to a movie related to the topic. Anthony had an optimistic type of response: “AI is kinda useless right now, but maybe in the future it will be more significant”. Lastly, Justin simply said, “It’s cool.” 

Overall, the students at CKM have diverse opinions on the recent advancements in AI tech, with some feeling optimistic, others scared, and still others unfazed.