Artificial Intelligence: Do the Pros Outweigh the Cons?
Artificial Intelligence, also known as AI, has gained a lot of attention over recent years. There are new models and uses coming out every day. There has also been a wide range of discussion around AI, particularly about how useful it is and its impact on the job market and the environment. It seems like everyone has an opinion. It can be overwhelming and confusing to sort through it all. This month, I wanted to summarize the AI discussion: outline the pros and cons of AI and things to consider if you are looking to use AI in an ethical way (if there is such a thing). So, let’s get right into it.
AI is best at increasing efficiency and can assist in idea generation. Essentially, AI is able to complete certain tasks more quickly than humans can. For example, it can take data and put it into a graph, a chart, or a table easily. You can avoid wasting time fumbling in Excel. It can also summarize phone calls and emails, even coming up with to-do lists. Sometimes it’s challenging to come up with new ideas, which is another use for AI. If you struggle with coming up with social media posts, article ideas, or how to word a diplomatic email, AI can easily fill in gaps or find fresh ideas. One of the most useful things about AI is its ability to personalize feedback. You can feed AI a summary of your business, your goals, and target audience and it will come up with ideas tailored to you. Having this dynamic tool in your pocket can be helpful.
All that being said, there are several drawbacks to artificial intelligence. It can display bias when giving feedback. The data is programmed to give positive feedback which means that it will say every idea is a good one and not flag any concerns. The other, larger concern is around the environmental impacts of AI. The program is stored on hard drives in large warehouses, which needs energy and water to keep running. Researchers from Google and the University of California at Berkeley estimated that the training process of AI uses 1,287 megawatt hours of electricity, which generates about 552 tons of carbon dioxide. That is enough energy to power 120 homes for a year. This vast amount of energy and fossil fuel use is contributing to global warming, which means an increase in extreme weather events. Fresh water is diverted to these data centres in order to avoid overheating the machines. Approximately two litres of water is used for every kilowatt hour of energy produced. There are First Nations reserves that have been under drinking water advisories for nearly 25 years, and many communities still have no running water in parts of their reserve. Such reserves rely on water trucks for drinking water and sewer systems. People are going without essential services but water is being diverted to increase worker efficiency.
There’s also considerable ethical concerns around AI use. Often the data used to train AI models are pulled from existing art, literature, social media platforms, websites, basically most things on the internet. Artists, authors, graphic designers, and many creatives are having their work stolen and used without consent or compensation. Even your social media activity is used without your knowledge. More often than not, this data is used without permission or proper compensation, violating copyright laws and privacy. People are becoming more accustomed to immediate results and little to no financial implications. So, more people are turning to AI to generate logos, images, videos, and many creative tasks. They are also turning to AI for administrative tasks, responding to emails, blog posts, and note taking. This means that many creatives, admin assistants, and other jobs are being taken away from people. It’s not happening as dramatically as I’m making it sound but definitely something to consider when using AI.
It can feel overwhelming and confusing to sift through all the information on AI. It can also feel alarming and urgent to either be on top of using AI or spreading awareness about the ethical implications of AI use. As a business, AI can be a valuable tool for completing tasks, especially on a budget. As an administrative assistant, I realize that I need to be on top of AI and find ways to adapt to the changing work landscape. So, is there a way to balance AI and hopefully mitigate the impacts of its use? It can be possible. Here are a few things to consider:
Never feed AI confidential data, like banking or client information, or creative outputs without explicit permission. This way you and your clients’ confidentiality are not breached. You also avoid violating copyright laws.
Be sure to verify any information you get from AI, it can feed you incorrect information. This means you are avoiding spreading misinformation.
Be intentional about your AI use. Is it necessary to generate that image or is it simply convenient? Only use AI if you are truly stuck or in a time crunch.
Use AI that aligns with your values and needs. There are many models out there now, some are better at admin tasks, and others are better with numbers and formatting. Another example: ChatGPT funds Trump’s ICE operations and conflicts in the Middle East. Claude is an alternative.
Remember that some things are irreplaceable- a machine cannot replace human nature. AI cannot replicate the nuances of human behaviour, like solving complex interpersonal problems or adding a touch of empathy to an email.
