It’s Mother’s Day season.
I can remember beginning my journey to self-discovery. I was stuck at “I want to help people”.
We can thank our moms for giving us the foundations for whatever our life’s passions are. In any field, the happiest people are usually those who are not truly working. Their work is their passion. To do what you love and love what you do, people often start with: “I want to help people”. I am of the opinion that this can be attributed to the nurturing that we received from our mothers.
The most successful businesses identify and solve problems. Usually, the resolution has some practical effect on life. And its birth began with: “I want to help people”.
AI (artificial intelligence) has been in the media aggressively. The intent behind the continued development, expansion, and overall evolution of AI is to improve our lives. It is an extension of “I want to help people”.
Take rideshares for a small and common example. If you do not live in a major city, you do not readily have access to grab a quick cab. Furthermore, what if you’re not carrying cash, or the cabbie doesn’t allow credit card payments? Suffice it to say that there were many problems addressed with creating apps that allowed people to request a rideshare (even the “problem” of not having a personal driver…and especially the problem of not having a designated driver!). Ultimately, you are able to have a more convenient experience in life as a consumer and commuter without personal or public transportation. This is a positive example of AI addressing problems.
But the incessant fears of technology replacing human beings is possibly more at arm’s reach than we realize. At a minimum, there are many people who would prefer human interaction.
There is one particular negative impact that technology has played. There seems to be a progressively challenging barrier for children to overcome during socialization. When children are accustomed to interacting with technology, they can be apprehensive and possibly even fearful when it comes to interacting with other human beings. Even as an adult highly dependent on technology during COVID-19’s Stay-At-Home orders, I had to regain comfort and confidence when around people. Being face-to-face is completely different from being in a virtual setting. Our children have similar growing pains.
Educational growth slowed following the dependence on asynchronous learning. A quite unique problem I recently learned about is the grapple going on at some (if not all) universities with regulating in-person class requirements for students who live on campus. Really – there are students who live on campus and attend classes online! I am not sure whether it is a matter of convenience or of not wanting to be around people. Depending on the course requirements, AI could easily earn the student’s grade.
Recently, my daughter and I spoke about Chat GPT, which, given her teenage status, she was naturally aware of this technology before me. This, and similar apps, seem to be an expansion of “talk to text” features. Part of the goals of virtual assistants like Siri, Alexa, Google Assist, Bixby, and any other similar app was initially to bridge the gap for those who may not be as tech savvy. It all began with: “I want to help people”. There was a market to make cell phones easier to use in a variety of ways (remember the Jitter Bug?). So, these virtual assistants evolved to AI that can perform many more clerical tasks. I realized that I can write AN ENTIRE BOOK using AI and no one would ever have to read it because I could have it converted to an Audio Book!!!! To be absolutely fair – I WILL continue using AI. However, I would NOT lean onto it. The concern is too much dependence (it’s a challenge sometimes to get a car mechanic who doesn’t rely on a machine to tell him or her what’s wrong with a car!).
Why are we making ourselves lazier?
There was a time that we complained about not having cursive writing as a requirement to be taught in school anymore. Many kids do not know how to read or write in cursive. Now, are we evolving so much that we are set to alleviate them from reading and writing at all. AI does it all.
Where do we draw the line? Better yet, where can we find the balance?
Ultimately, to be able to do what we love and love what we do, we can agree that we use technology to handle our not so favorite tasks. But I think at this point, it goes without saying that we could be crippling ourselves through too much AI.
My kids don’t write in cursive. Will theirs not write at all? I think our moms would all be proud if we at least do some of the work.
AI has its place in life, but it doesn’t need to be everywhere. It’s our nature to nurture. We can thank mom for that.