The Growth of Dependence on AI: Is it Advancing Our Lives Positively or Negatively?
Artificial Intelligence has been around for several years, constantly growing smarter and more vast. While its design was meant to improve our lives and make things more convenient, it is also making us dependent on it for simple ideas and overall making humans indolent.
Within the past 5 years, we have seen a shift in our everyday life as AI continues to get “smarter” and predicts our next moves. There are many places in our lives where AI is used, and it is becoming normalized. Chat GPT, Google home devices, Google searches, and social media algorithms, just to name a few. AI develops algorithms on our devices to show content that the consumer wants to see. We are slowly losing control of not only our creativity, but our critical thinking skills, when it comes to not only day to day life but also life in the workplace.
Sure, you could argue that it makes your job easier, helps create ideas, codes things for you, and filters out unnecessary information, but this convenience comes at a cost. AI isn’t magic, there are multiple major data centers throughout the United States that are built by companies such as Microsoft, Amazon, Meta, and Google. For those of us who don’t know what these data centers are, and how they operate, allow me to explain. Stax Engineering defines data centers as “facilities housing computer systems that process and store the vast amounts of data generated daily. A typical data center consists of servers, storage systems, networking equipment, cooling systems, and security systems. The 7.2 million data centers worldwide ensure all the information that flows through every internet-connected device, such as laptops, tablets, and smartphones, is accessible and secure.”
These cooling systems mentioned require water to keep the computers from overheating, and as you can imagine, there is a lot of data coming through these centers which require a lot of water to keep cool. This may not sound like a big deal, but over time it will put strain on local resources where these data centers are located (it is important to note that some of them are in areas prone to droughts).
I don’t know about you, but I don’t love the idea of a computer controlling what content I see, being a crutch when I’m lacking creativity, becoming yet another environmental problem, or how it can infringe on job security for multiple industries. This technology is only going to get smarter, and we as humans may need to be a little weary of how much information we give these data centers. As you could imagine, inputting data into these systems about your job or work-related things can impose data breeches, and the possibility of lack security for companies. Many people worry about what the future will look like with the development of AI and how it may be able to replace jobs. While AI may be smarter than us, it will never be able to copy and replace human empathy and that is the only thing we have that it can’t replicate.
There also is concern for the older generations (easy targets for scammers) and the dangers of scammers using AI to their benefit by the altering of video content on social media platforms and various other scam strategies. Before we know it, AI is going to make it impossible for us to be able to tell which videos are real and which are not. Right now, we can tell that a person’s face may look like them but something’s a little off… maybe their mouth doesn’t sync to the words, etc. It is important that we educate the older generations who haven’t been as exposed to this technology and the predatory possibilities and overall fraudulent capabilities of it. Fact checking what you see on the internet is so important and will help keep the false news at bay.
It’s a shame we can’t have a good thing stay a good thing. I wish there weren’t possibilities of people using advanced intelligence for evil, but these agendas exist, and we’d be foolish to deny this possibility. As you can tell, I am passionate about this topic…come up with your own ideas and don’t let a computer steal your ability to critically think. Lacking creativity? Go for a walk or read articles on what you need help with. Lacking vocabulary? Read books that challenge your mind, play word games. Our brains are a muscle, if you don’t use it, you will lose it. Future generations and future you will thank you if you take back control of your life and stop relying as much artificial intelligence and use your own.
