Molly Lo ’27
In the pulsating heart of the digital age, a revolution is underway that promises to redefine the very fabric of our existence – artificial intelligence (AI). From helping to crack the Enigma Code during World War II to generating the lede for this school newspaper articls, the capacities and applications of AI have changed drastically over the course of its history. These advancements have altered the landscape and caused the United States government to implement policy to ensure safety for Americans.
With the tremendous investment and activity in the AI space and the concerns that some have about potential negative impacts, the government has devoted substantial efforts to thinking about how to regulate this rapidly growing industry. President Biden has issued an executive order directing the following actions:
- Develop new standards for AI safety and security
- Protect Americans’ privacy
- Advance equity and civil rights
- Support workers
- Promote innovation and competition
- Advance american leadership abroad
- Ensure responsible and effective government use of AI
In practice, it remains to be seen how these executive orders will play out against the backdrop of an extraordinary flowering of activity in the AI space.
Although artificial intelligence is all over the news, the specifics and history of AI is commonly misunderstood. First formulated by Alan Turing in the 1940s and 1950s, the predecessors of AI were used in the field of cryptanalysis (deciphering codes). The new techniques with machine input pioneered by Turing forever transformed the way that complex problems could be tackled. In 1997, IBM’s Deep Blue, a supercomputer powered by machine learning, defeated Chess World Champion Garry Kasparov in a highly publicized match. On November 30, 2022, another massive leap forward in the field of AI occurred with the release of ChatGPT, the revolutionary language generation model.
But, what is artificial intelligence? AI is the ability of a digital computer or robot to perform the cognitive functions we associate with human minds. There are two general categories of AI: strong and weak. Strong AI solves generalized problems without significant training similar to the capabilities of human intellect. These applications include language translation programs, image identification, and high-level cyber security systems. Conversely, Weak AI solves problems within a specific context. While the name might suggest that Weak AI isn’t as effective as Strong AI, language generation models like ChatGPT, self-driving cars, and voice assistants all use Weak AI to execute their functions. By harnessing the different advantages provided by each type of AI, companies, universities, and governments can improve efficiency and develop new ideas.
Photo courtesy of The New York Times
AI is rapidly improving in multiple dimensions: the techniques and algorithms are improving, the computational power driving AI systems is increasing, the data sets used to train programs are expanding, and the applications for which it is utilized are broadening. In the near future, AI has the potential to affect virtually every human activity. Tech giants like Google, Microsoft, Meta, and Amazon are each spending billions of dollars improving their offering and infrastructure in the artificial intelligence and machine learning fields. Even among non-technology focused Fortune 500 companies, many have a plan for incorporating AI into their business model.
Transportation companies such as Tesla use AI to produce their self-driving capabilities for their cars. New driver Ethan Zhou ’25 believes that “while AI innovation is cool and all, it comes at the risk of human lives. Self driving cars can never perfect the roads and mistakes are bound to happen.” Manufacturing companies have begun implementing robots to complete menial tasks such as stacking materials to maximize efficiency. Natural Language Processing (NLP) such as Alexa and Siri are made possible by AI, and now even fast food chains use AI for customer service and drive throughs. Past just businesses, stock traders on Wall Street rely on information from AI to predict stocks and journalists just AI to automate reports on company earnings. Lawyers use AI to synthesize documents for court and Healthcare experts use it to enhance medical tasks.
AI has also influenced education. For instance, universities like Stanford and MIT have focused on AI improvements and working the new advancements into curriculum. Sal Khan, the founder of Khan Academy, argues that AI in education will introduce the biggest “positive transformation that education has ever seen.” Citing Benjamin S. Bloom’s research into the greater effectiveness of one to one tutoring vs. more traditional one teacher to many students, Khan claims that students could achieve up to two standard deviations better results under the tutorial-like teaching that is available with AI.
However, there are some concerns regarding the use and expansion of artificial intelligence. In education, plagiarism has increased dramatically due to the easy availability of programs like Open AI’s ChatGPT. Eli Engelman ’25 shares, “I think it is a real concern that kids are cheating more, and there is relatively little teachers can do to stop it.” Additionally, privacy is a key concern, as AI can be trained to encroach on personal data. Breakthrough advancements such as self-driving cars can never be 100% safe and crashes as a result of AI are inevitable. The information AI uses inherently has bias in it, so many of the responses people receive will be littered with racial or gender stereotypes. Furthermore, a chief concern amongst the workforce is that AI will eliminate the need for lower-skill jobs and in doing so will skyrocket unemployment. Sean Magee ’24 believes “I am seriously concerned that in the future AI will take jobs for people like me. The government’s actions thus far have been good to protect American interests and I hope it continues.” Conversely, Eli Engleman comments, “We cannot stifle AI innovation with China on our heels. If we try too hard to protect American jobs, China will surge lightyears ahead of us.”