Month: September 2023

AI is becoming an increasingly bigger topic in recent years. Technology is constantly improving, doing things humans struggle with and helping in all aspects of life from school homework to manufacturing cars. It’s only a matter of time before AI has mastered even the most intricate tasks such as brain surgery. However, as technology improves, more concerns surface.

In the past few weeks, I’ve read my share of newspapers – for a school project –where in every single one there were countless articles about AI. Many were about the reliability of AI, talking about what the future will look like with AI. In each article, I found the same issue reoccurring: what will happen to humanity with the constant improving of AI? By this I mean that AI is being adapted to take over more and more jobs, leaving less and less for humans who are already struggling with a unemployment crisis. This could become a major issue for future generations, and perhaps even my own, when trying to make a life for themselves.

I agree with the wonders of AI, having seen countless art designs on social media and even having my own personal AI on Snapchat of whom I talk to from time to time when needing help with homework. However, it does make me worry that humans may become too dependable on artificial intelligence when there is still a large potential of it one day failing. I believe that there should perhaps be a point where humans should settle with the AI we already have and focus on different aspects of technology.

However, if we are to adapt our lifestyles to use new AI then it should be done so in all aspects of life. School currently is very old fashioned in my opinion, even frowning on the use of technology at home for homework. I think that schools should also adapt to modern technology and use it for learning – rather than consuming millions of trees through the use of workbooks. However, this may also enhance the class divide – similar to lockdown – as the rich can afford the best technology while lower classes struggle and tend to use school granted technology.

Furthermore, technology has not been fully researched yet and increasing health problems such as poor mental health are assumed to be side affects from spending too much time in front of screens. It’s also evident younger generations who’ve grown up with this kind of technology are more familiar with its programming which may cause issues if used in the school system such as increased and easier cheating.

All of this may be my opinion, but they are influenced by things I’ve seen and heard about. AI is a very scary concept, and while the future of it worries me, I understand adapting is the best course of action.

I’d  been here before; I knew I had. There were faint memories that glowed through the corridors, full of colour that seemed distant and otherworldly, like they belonged to a stranger. The placid halls would bubble with childish laughter which brought life to the dreary classrooms. Time would slip by without any notice, a creature awaiting in the shadows preparing to pounce. Now the silence was unbearable. Time was frozen.

Faces danced through my mind, taunts of a life I would never experience again, faces of youth and innocence. They were bright and alive but brought only the knowledge that they’d grow forever dimmer until one day they would fade into the pool of maturity – destined to bring only longing for a lost childhood.

This place was different. A carcass of the land I’d once known as home. How I’d wish  to leave, to be free of those imprisoning gates. Now I long to turn back the clock, ache for just a few more precious moments of carefree banter that had been robbed from me, for just a few reprieving moments from the looming  pressure of growing up.

Where’d all the time go?

I’d been here before, but now it was foreign. It was no longer the great iron gates keeping me prisoner, but the shackles of expectations that I’d been caught in. This time there would be no escape from my new jail cell.