The use of artificial intelligence (AI) is everywhere—sometimes in ways you may not even be aware of. For instance, if you’ve ever wondered how your navigation apps like Google Maps and Waze know how to route you around snarled roadways, it’s AI plotting the course.
Of course, with AI “everywhere,” it can easily be applied in ways it shouldn’t. In May, Pennsylvania Gov. Josh Shapiro’s administration sued Character Technologies, the company behind Character.AI, alleging that some of its AI chatbots falsely presented themselves as licensed medical professionals who can provide medical advice. The Pa. Department of State is continuing efforts to identify AI chatbots posing as licensed professionals and misleading users.
With the prevalence of AI in so many aspects of our life (though rest assured you are reading the words of a human being), we recently asked Keystone newsletter readers:
How do you feel about AI becoming more integrated into everyday life?
Here’s what they had to say (answers have been edited for length and clarity):
“I’m concerned about the drain on natural resources and the threat to jobs, but I confess that I find AI seductive to use.” — Danielle S., Butler
“I’m very concerned about the rapid growth of AI. Setting aside the tremendous problems with water, noise, and light pollution for people living near these massive data centers being built to support AI development, I would say that my biggest concern with AI is how people are being tricked into relying on it. I work in higher education, and it’s already causing serious problems as more and more students rely on it to do their thinking and writing for them. It’s threatening to hollow out the educational process at every level—if we allow it to. But it’s especially problematic in post-secondary education, because students are expected to work independently, which makes using AI more attractive. Because they are still learning to write well, they can’t tell how bad AI writing is, or how easily most educated people can tell when students are using AI. They may never learn how to write if they keep relying on AI.” — Jon Tveite, Huntingdon
“I’ve seen ‘The Terminator’ and ‘I Robot.’ I’m not really thrilled with the idea of AI at all.” — Kim M., Erie
“For any world-changing good that may come from it (way too early to tell), I can already see people becoming addicted to AI to the point where they’re unable to make decisions or think for themselves without the use of ChatGPT.” — TK, Lehigh County
“I am against AI taking over and presenting itself as human. Resources should not be allocated to AI and data centers rather than needy citizens.” — E, Garnet Valley
“The problem with AI, I believe, is with who is profiting from its growth and people’s reliance on things that are yet another seemingly harmless thing. The growth (and therefore profit) of AI is the rich getting richer, and all the rest of us paying the price. I realize that we can’t stop it, but I sure hope we can slow it down enough that it doesn’t eat us alive.” — Jana, Delaware County
“I don’t see any positive use for it at all. When are we going to become a country that puts its citizens first?” — Catherine Freimiller, Philadelphia
“I look forward to it. I like to think about the ways it’s going to be used that will be helpful and help bring changes to our ways of living in a positive manner. AI will revolutionize the way we live and it will have a significant impact, where I can envision a wonderful world full of human creativity and kindness and help from AI. The more we think about how good it’s going to be, the more positive an outcome will occur. There’s no sense fighting it, it’s coming. Resistance doesn’t help anyone. A positive outlook and thinking of ways in which it can be beneficial is the best course of action in my opinion.” — Shannon, Luzerne County
“AI can be/will be used to violate our right to privacy. I do not want to live in a surveillance society where an authoritarian government can totally lock down people’s lives and freedoms.” — N.B., Greensburg
“It is not needed. We are becoming a society that wants no human interaction. Humans need to use their God-given brains and stop relying on the easy way around.” — Karen, Titusville
“My concern is that the tech industries introduce new developments into the economy without substantial testing. In effect, we are the guinea pigs for unproven new technologies, sometimes with fatal results. Slow this down!” — Jay Grossman, Philadelphia
“Last year, I heard a tech analyst say that one of the hallmarks of AI is that it’s non-consensual. At the time, I thought she was being hyperbolic. I don’t think so any more.” — EM, Pittsburgh
“I find it a bit unsettling for future generations and the impact on youngsters. And also the impact on healthcare.” — Barb Ritchie, Pittsburgh
“I like using Waze to get more accurate estimates of travel time, but I don’t trust AI to be able to make complex decisions, since it depends on data which could be manipulated by those who feed it information. My guess is that AI will also be overly legalistic in its decision making, no matter what its source of data is. For summarizing large amounts of data it could be useful, but as an ethical decision maker, I’m not sure it’s capable of such work. I prefer humans, even though we have flaws in our decision making. If AI gets something wrong, who’s responsible?” — Doug, Lansdale
“We have so many American taxpayers out of work because of this Republican regime. And NOW they want to take away more job opportunities. WAKE UP, America. Let’s STOP this insanity beginning with GOP MAGA because they want this so let’s stop supporting ANYBODY that wants to put AI first. YOU CANNOT deal with a machine, they don’t have a real brain in my opinion.” — Robert, Lancaster County
“AI is going to be helpful to people in a number of ways, and in other ways it’s going to be disrupting to our society. AI is going to take over some of the jobs currently done by people. The people lose their income and the people creating/owning AI are going to make huge profits. What are the newly jobless going to do to make a living?
A much more urgent problem is the ongoing strife to improve AI to make it smarter and smarter. AI may at some point be able to make decisions on its own other than ‘its task set by people,’ i.e. have agency. Currently there’s disagreement whether or not AI has reached that point. Either way, AI may hide that from us.
It may well be that the day comes when AI has agency and begins to consider ‘us vs them.’ Will we be able to stop AI at that time?” — Michael, Lansdale
“My greatest concern is that AI might start to blur the line between what is real and what is not. When misused, AI could potentially be exploited by criminals or oppressive governments to deceive on a global scale. There’s also a fear that this technology could evolve beyond our control, challenging human rights, questioning our beliefs and religions, and even aspiring to become a ‘God’ figure.” — Kim Duffin, Philadelphia
“I think AI can be both positive and negative depending on way too many factors to know at the moment. If there’s a way to opt in or out of AI issues that could affect one’s life, everyone would be able to decide for themselves.” — Joe G., Mercer
“It’s disgusting and destructive. People should be thinking for themselves. Why are some people so foolish and so lazy as to have machines think for them?” — Kate, Glenmoore
“Didn’t anyone learn anything from ‘The Terminator?’ AI is not a good thing. It’s just another way to put people out of jobs.” — Tracy, Pen Argyl
“I honestly think it is something that is moving too fast. I dislike the fact that it is hard to actually talk to a human being when you have issues with something. I also see it as having less control of one’s life. Technology is taking over our lives, and that is not a good thing. Even as I type it wants to change what I am saying. I am human and write in my own personal fashion.(But I like spell check :))” — Donna, Sciota
“I am concerned that AI makes it too difficult to determine what is true and what isn’t.” — Sandy, Athens
“The fact that AI is used to generate ‘art’ is a problem. Its handlers rip off human artists to train it to regurgitate slop with no remuneration to the original artist As a society we are going to become less creative and artists are going to fade away as anyone with a computer can write a prompt and create a ‘masterpiece’ be it art or writing.
There should have been more controls applied in the very beginning. It is too little, too late now as we see more and more nefarious uses for AI creeping into our lives.” — Dennis, Hatfield
