Artificial Intelligence in 2025 is inescapable. Every corner of life has been affected: from television shows and movies, producing and playing music, school exams and so much more. Since we do not have time machine, we cannot undo the creation of AI. However, the question still stands: now that AI is here how should we react to it?
Before we begin our discussion about AI, it is important to understand what AI is and how it works. First off, all, AI systems are fed massive amounts of data, which can vary wildly in purpose. For example, the NHS is currently developing an AI that can detect cancer in its earlier stages because of that fact, it is considerably easier to eradicate cancer when its still young, saving lives.
But where did AI come from? Throughout science fiction and philosophy, AI has always been a concept that was merely a hypothetical.
Until the 1950s, where exploration of AI began, but unfortunately it did not lead anywhere. This was because scientists did not have the technology we have today and the lack of computing power.
Then in 2020, due to investment by companies, AI development grew exponentially, and large-scale AI language models were released (like ChatGPT). There are a variety of generative AI models such OpenAI or ChatGPT, which are designed to simulate human conversation and many more tools to improve learning.
Or even Google AI, which has a data set of all websites published on Google, that helps condense information into a simplified explanation instead of people spending hours searching things up.
If AI is helpful tool, why is it so controversial?
The AI like the ones I mentioned previously, are not usually controversial, as it can be used to save lives and the data the AI is trained off is gained in ethical ways that benefits both parties, plus it isn’t taking away jobs, it reduces (in this case) doctors’ workload.
Most people have a problem with AI generators, that work practically the same as ‘normal’ AI but they produce supposedly new products like pictures, essays and even music.
The first main critique of AI is its devastating impact on the the planet. This is because these models require substantial amounts of energy, which produces mass amounts of greenhouse gases.
As well as this, water is vital to stop the AI centres from overheating (like how your phone overheats), that can cause more environmental damage.
The second reason is about the data the AI is gathering and how it gathers it. Many artists feel animosity towards generative AI (specifically ones generating art) as they feel that they did not consent their artwork to be fed to these machines (a process known as data scraping) and especially they think that AI art is fundamentally the same as tracing and predicting probability based on other peoples works.
As well as this, artists are famous for making very little off their art (which takes time, skill and effort) and they are facing difficult business growth due to people getting it cheaper and quicker off AI.
That brings us to the question that started it all: What do we do about AI? Before I share my opinion, I would encourage you to do your own research and form your own beliefs about AI.
Personally, I am not a fan of generative AI as I believe art, music and writing are all one of best aspects of the human experience, why would I want a machine to do that?
As well as this, if someone hasn’t even bothered to make the art themselves, why should I be invested? Not to mention the environmental impact. This leaves me with a sour taste in my mouth when it comes to AI, which is why I would not choose to use generative AI.
By Isabelle Culf