Artificial Intelligence

In my last few years in educational leadership, we started the discussion around artificial intelligence (AI) and the potential and perceived drawbacks of the technology in the TK-12th grade setting.  

Now, a few years later I am not surprised to see school districts rethinking screen time for students, limiting AI by grade levels, government officials delaying the implementation of guardrails, and technology executives coming forward to confess the pending danger of this unbridled technology.

Unfortunately, I am hearing from parents that are experiencing their high school students using AI tools to do a multitude of tasks while seeing their students substituting their own thinking and problem-solving skills in the process.  AI has opened the door to obtaining quick answers and analysis from a depth of information collated and disseminated from a database of common knowledge. What is needed for a student using AI is the ability to verify and validate information given from AI to ensure its accuracy.

With AI already impacting our lives in the ads we are seeing, the music we are hearing, and the images being shared on social media, there are other implications at play that escape our naked eye.  Most likely we would all be surprised if the veil was pulled back on what is happening currently with all aspects of AI.  

Technology has improved our lives, opened better access to information, and brought us the worlds collective knowledge base into our hands like access to the internet.  It has also infringed upon our rights and has magnified negative aspects with online bullying, pornography, fraud, and criminal behavior just to name a few.  There will always be an underbelly of negative potential to any innovation or new technology.  

With the continued growth of AI, I predict we will continue to see benefits, drawbacks, and a push to harness the technology for good.  At that same time, we will witness bad actors utilizing this innovation for personal profit and to harm this country and others.  Having states, the national government, and world leaders sitting back during this pioneering period should concern us all.  There is no closing the door; the monkey is already out of the cage. 

Let’s just say, I have watched all the Planet of the Apes films, and it doesn’t end well for us all. The time for action is behind us and the longer we wait, the more difficult it will be to curb, change course, or curtail the implications and actions of AI. Now, get back to your AI apps; they miss you already and desire more of your interaction.