THE ECHO

Jordan Anderson// Reporter
As time goes on, the usage of AI becomes more prevalent, from help on
homework to club posters AI is everywhere. This is causing our planet a lot
of damage, maybe irreversible damage.
“I feel like every day you hear about something happening with our Earth’s
health, this is the only home we have. I feel like as people we need to do a
better job of being grateful that.” Said junior Sadie Cartwright
In the past years AI has used nearly 765 billion liters of water annually, not
only is this bad for our plant, but it’s also equally as bad for humans. We
consume almost 446 billion liters of bottled water a year; our technology is
eating our resources. As an AI bot does someone’s algebra homework, it
uses 1-4 liters of water per prompt.
“I use AI, I know I shouldn’t, but when an assignment is hard it helps. I
think people have become too used to using AI so now that’s how people
think,” said sophomore Eric Wilsey. “Free easy fast help obviously people
are going to use it.”
When we have something that thinks for us, we are making knowledge
optional; literacy rates have dropped by 9% since 2017. AI has stepped into
music, arts, and even sports. AI is playing a role in many things that humans
create just because it’s a quick solution.
“It’s insane; no one wants to listen to music with no person behind it. I love
music and pop culture in general really and it’s losing its emotional charm.
We’re losing the plot. Its making player stats charts for ESPN, its designing
art, and its composing music, its bland and it’s boring.” Said Senior Morgan
Cripe.
With everything going on in the world, it can be hard to tell what is true and
real versus what’s fake and untrue.
“My grandma will send me AI videos thinking they’re, its adorable, god I
love her, but the more you think about that the more it becomes concerning,
a while ago there were people hacking and calling phones and AI has made
it easier to spread information,” said Cartwright. “Like with everything that
has been going on is important you know what is actually happening not
what certain people want you to think is happening. That’s just ignorant.”
With major advancements in technology and AI, our society needs to put
knowledge and genuine human emotion at the forefront of our minds. We
need to stay in touch with our humanity and continue to learn how to
connect and communicate. We need to be human again.
“We as a society, not just individuals, need to start thinking about what we
are doing and stop thinking so much about what works right now. That will
cause more problems in our future.” said Cripe.