AI talk

I recently came across a column where the writer chronicled his conversation with Artificial Intelligence (AI) application Chat GPT. It was a decent talk, should the reader not know the context. The exchange was flawless, until the other party realizes that the thought is starting to lose its sense.

The academe and the journalistic landscape are both threatened with the easily-available presence of AI. They are fearful that their students will no longer write papers on their own but instead resort to technology for it. Who would not want to take the easy route? To forget integrity at the blink of an eye is so easy, especially when pressed for time.

For those running newsrooms, they will see that it is cost-efficient to run on AI. This will also save them the time of having to wait for their reports to break the story. When they receive information from anywhere on the web, they can report first and fast. That's how the audience measures credibility these days  without even bothering to look at content and the process of vetting.

It is both astonishing and dreadful. Soon enough our jobs will be replaced by AI. What we know now may be obsolete at any time, given this rate of how technology moves so fast. If we don't level up our game, then we are bound to become one of the antiques. Remember, everything that we enjoy today on the internet came from one stupid idea. The creators were lucky that investors took a bet on it to see it to its launch. If many will see the potential of AI, then the future holds lesser opportunities for those who do not wish to evolve.

While it has not taken over our lives yet, I think it is best that educators rethink their method of assessing their students. While writing papers and essays is a great way to gauge a student (plus the greater chances of having these published in peer-reviewed journals), there might be some other way to go around it. It's time educators become creative in this age of digitalization.

As for the newsrooms, they might also want to upskill their journalists. AI is not always harmful. In fact, we use it in the daily grind --from consolidating data, interpreting it and even to the most basic of transcribing interviews. These tasks used to be so tedious but AI has made it all faster.

We are now seeing the predictions from the past come to life. What most movies and cartoons portray in the late ‘90’s are starting to become real. It is a bit crazy, but I'd like to think of it as a river current. When you are capable and ready, then just you flow down the stream. No need to swim fast to reach the end, this isn't a race. The ones who quickly adapt are the luckiest because they know how to survive. In this technological warfare, being smart and wise is key.