When you picture a CEO in your mind, what do they look like? When you picture a personal assistant in your mind, were they old or young, male or female? There is a good chance that the CEO in your mind was a middle-aged male with good looks and the personal assistant was an attractive young female. It’s perfectly natural for your brain to conjure up these images from its own biases and stereotypes. However, there are certain issues inherent in training AI on data that contains those same biases and stereotypes. Let’s take a closer look at how constantly using AI could potentially undermine your critical thinking skills.
Your Unconscious Bias
There is evidence that suggests that our brains experience a stronger activation when we encounter something different from what we expected in an unfamiliar social situation. This is because we have unconscious biases that build up an expectation in our heads of what a person in a specific role might look like. These biases have been well-documented over time. In the last few years, concern has begun to grow regarding how much AI systems have been trained in these biases and how they may affect our decision-making processes. Because AI output is based on training data, the resulting images and text can often reaffirm these stereotypes, which, in turn, affect our behavior and decisions. This can lead to the under-representation of certain people or the misrepresentation of certain groups.
Does Using AI Make Humans Dull?
AI algorithms are growing more advanced and complex by the day, but what are the consequences of over-reliance on these systems? There is a growing fear that the more we rely on this technology for problem-solving tasks, the more our own problem-solving abilities fade away. While the AI boom may be a recent occurrence, these fears have been voiced for many years now. In fact, even Stephen Hawking once stated that the “development of full artificial intelligence could spell the end of the human race.”
AI Now Makes Critical Decisions That Affect Us All
For the very first time in human history, AI is making important decisions that affect millions of people. Chatbots have the ability to provide insights and data and increase work efficiency. However, these AI systems are very good at producing content that feels human-written, therefore, many people don’t bother to check if the content is factual or not. Academicians are particularly worried about what impact these AI tools will have in the long run. Will these models be useful in fields such as education and work or will they negatively impact our decision-making abilities?
The Impact of Search Engines
When Google Search was released a few decades back, it completely changed the way we gather information. However, there was a negative impact of this new technology too. The more we relied on these search engines, the more the information they provided us with changed how we perceive things. For example, one study concluded that using search engines often led to a decreased ability to retain information, and think critically, and a dependence on these tools for accessing information. Another study concluded that using search engines negatively impacted problem-solving abilities and creative skills.
The Impact Of AI on Education
According to Copyleaks, there has been a 76% increase in the amount of high school students who used AI-generated tools in March 2024. Using ChatGPT on school networks and devices has now even been banned by the New York City Department of Education. It’s not just students who are being affected either, with many educators fearing that their jobs will one day be replaced by ChatGPT or something similar. However, many people feel that this is not likely, since AI tools don’t have the capacity to display the same empathy and human interaction that a living and breathing teacher can.
The Bottom Line on AI
When prompted for descriptions or images of certain professions or people, AI often generates output that reveals built-in biases and stereotypes based on its training data. This is problematic, as it reinforces these stereotypes and affects the way we view the world around us. Unlike search engines, where one is provided with a choice of options for gathering data, AI chat tools will often only provide one conclusion. This can potentially prevent people from exploring further or finding other sources of information that offer a different opinion. Over-reliance on these tools has the ability to prevent us from thinking critically and looking beyond the output of AI for potential answers.
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