In our society there is a new class warfare emerging. It’s no longer only “rich versus poor.” It is already a “thinking class” versus a “scrolling class”, a “reading class” versus a “streaming class”, a “writing class” versus an “ai-prompting class.” ~ Cheyenne L. Hunt, executive director of Gen Z for Change
The photo is of Will Teague, and his cat. He a professor teaching at a university in the United States. (Teague that is, not the cat.) In his essay, which I have linked below, he emphasizes, “Students are not just undermining their ability to learn, but to someday lead.”
To that I’ll add my own addendum: Students are not just undermining their ability to learn, and to someday lead, but also to develop the ability to recognize whom they should and should not choose as their future leaders.
What are we discussing? The use of AI, of course. Not only is AI making us incapable of formulating an original thought, or developing critical thinking skills, as well as dulling and repressing our capability to imagine, most large-scale AI deployments are housed in data centers, including those operated by cloud service providers, and these data centers are taking a heavy toll on Mother Earth. The electronics they house rely on a staggering amount of energy from non sustainable sources, making a five-pound computer require 1700 plus pounds of raw materials. As well, the microchips that power AI need rare earth elements, which are often mined in environmentally destructive ways. The second problem is that data centers produce electronic waste, which often contains hazardous substances, such as mercury and lead. Last but not least, due to their size, these data centers are built in rural areas, meaning agricultural parts of the country, and thus they are sucking up all the water that’s usually set aside for growing our crops.
I have no doubt at all that AI has some wonderful, miraculous uses. But we humans have not yet evolved enough to ferret out the good, while mitigating the very bad. We’re still too self-serving, gut-brained, and desirous of instant gratification to understand or care how vital it is to the survival of future generations to look past our own desires. As an example, look at what happened to the internet in just twenty-five years. And to social media. And to Amazon.com. They all started out with such great potential to better humankind, and now it’s memes, celebrity gossip, influencers, fake news, appropriated IP, and a CEO who rents out Venice while his factory workers live below the poverty line.
Which brings me back to Professor Teague and his essay. He conducted an experiment in his university classroom in which he discovered that 39% of his students used AI to write their essays. Read the results of that experiment here , and feel free to let me know your thoughts.
For those who do not have time to read the entire essay, Teague concluded it with the following:
“History shows us that the right to literacy came at a heavy cost for many Americans, ranging from ostracism to death. Those in power recognized that oppression is best maintained by keeping the masses illiterate, and those oppressed recognized that literacy is liberation. To my students and to anyone who might listen, I say: Don’t surrender to AI your ability to read, write, and think, when others once risked their lives and died for the freedom to do so.”
I very much agree with Professor Teague.
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