Session 1: Is Artificial Intelligence the way forward? Are restrictions on AI necessary to maximize its benefits?
Artificial Intelligence (AI) has developed vastly in past few months, and is expected to change the world over the next decade. This potential of AI has already been recognized with the 2024 Nobel Prize in Physics being given for research on neural networks, an integral part of AI. Moreover in the past year the rise of chatbots such as ChatGPT, has also changed the way education is approached with various students utilising these chatbots to overcome barriers to learning. Despite worries that such chatbots will not be able to exhibit human qualities that are necessary for certain jobs, many users have turned to them as therapists, which has had both a positive as well as a negative impact.
Seeing this sudden rise in AI as well the lack of restrictions on it, led me to organize a session on AI and to what extent it should be restricted. At this session various students discussed and presented arguments on both sides of this issues. A few students stated that restrictions on AI will restrict innovation. They believed this was as the interactions between chatbots and humans as well the evolving data sets that chatbots are trained upon is the primary driver of innovation in today's society and if restrictions are placed on these it will lead to a net negative impact on society. At the same time other students explained that restrictions on AI are necessary in order to preserve human intelligence. They referred to themselves and highlighted that since they have been introduced to chatbots they have a higher tendency of asking AI to think through the problems and give them the solution, rather than grappling and struggling with it and developing their own unique approach to the problem. Moreover, these students also highlighted the negative impact of leaving AI unrestricted, such as situations when users were using chatbots as therapists which led to the users mentally health deteriorating to the point where the user committed suicide.
Arguments on both sides of this issue showed the importance of dialogue and critical thinking in today's day and age. This was especially relevant given the recent upgrades to major chatbots such as ChatGPT with the "12 Days of Open AI" event being organized.
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