The Emerging Prominence of Artificial Intelligence
Artificial Intelligence (AI) is probably the most widely discussed, hottest conversation topic currently. AI is being utilized in everything from school writing assignments, to coding, to creating new media. While AI has many benefits in our technology driven society, there are also a lot of drawbacks that must be considered as the technology continues to rapidly develop. One of the most prominent of these concerns is the ability, or lack thereof, to identify differences between AI-generated content and human-generated content. Recognizing content source (human vs. machine) can be quite challenging.
In light of this challenge, for this blog post, I have an assignment for you, readers. The following two paragraphs both discuss the prevalence of AI and its prominence today. I would like you to read both paragraphs and try to discern which was generated by AI and which was written by me.
“In today’s digitally-driven era, artificial intelligence (AI) stands at the forefront of innovation, permeating almost every aspect of our daily lives. From personalized recommendations on streaming platforms to advanced medical diagnostics, AI has become an indispensable tool shaping the way we interact with technology. Its prevalence is evident in the rapid integration of AI-powered solutions across various sectors, from finance and healthcare to manufacturing and transportation. This ubiquity underscores the transformative impact AI has on optimizing processes, enhancing efficiency, and unlocking new opportunities for businesses and individuals alike.”
“Artificial intelligence (AI) has become increasingly prevalent in our modern world, shaping various aspects of our lives. Since the widespread adoption of AI tools like ChatGPT in late 2022, we’ve witnessed rapid advancements in generative AI and large language models (LLMs). These technologies are transforming industries and enhancing productivity. According to Stanford’s AI Index report, AI now outperforms humans in tasks such as imagine classification, visual reasoning, and English understanding. However, there are still complex cognitive tasks where AI falls short. In summary, AI’s prominence is undeniable, and its influence will only continue to expand as we navigate the age of uncertainty and opportunity. Whether it’s revolutionizing image recognition or reshaping how we work, AI is a force that demands our attention and thoughtful governance.”
Can you tell the differences between these two paragraphs? Are there noticeable differences that may indicate whether these were AI or human generated? I’ll be honest, the assignment I gave you was a bit misleading. Both paragraphs were written by AI, by two separate chat bots. Now, I apologize for the ruse, but I did that to highlight some of the dangers of AI technology. One of the biggest dangers is that people can tell you they are responsible for generating content, when in fact, the content was generated by AI. Content source is something that we must be hyper-aware of. Additionally, another skill that is going to be increasingly important as AI grows is being able to identify key markers that indicate AI-generated content. Some of these markers may include unusual syntax and grammar, inconsistencies in style and tone, and/or overuse of keywords and phrases. Can you notice any of these things in the AI-generated paragraphs?
Another important aspect to consider is from where AI pulls its information. A major concern with AI is that, for the most part, it is a “black box.” You put a prompt in, the AI generates a response, and you may use that response as an answer to your prompt. However, you must be cautious about where the information for that generated response came from. While AI is extremely powerful, it may have been trained on incomplete or incorrect information and thus, the responses it generates are inaccurate. This skill of being able to fact-check, critically think about, and verify the sources of AI generated content is going to be one of the most important skills for anyone interacting with AI on a regular basis. People who can develop those skills quickly and competently will separate themselves from the rest as AI continues to increase in popularity.
Regardless of how you feel about the prevalence of AI, one thing is for certain, it isn’t going away anytime soon. This fact highlights the importance of being a critical consumer of knowledge and a detail-oriented person. Given the many contexts in which AI can be utilized, it’s ever important to be able to identify when content may be AI generated, how to identify those potential signs, and how to proceed if you believe the content was in fact created by AI. While the challenge I presented in the beginning of this post was tricky, it merely scratches the surface of the challenges we will face as AI continues to develop at an exponential rate. I hope this post and this challenge made you more aware of the difficulties of those challenges, and I wish you the best of luck in this ever increasing digitally driven era.
