“AI is numbing our critical and creative faculties,” said the high school student with absolute conviction. Surrounding her on stage at the Mapusa market entrance were other students, nervously awaiting their turn to make themselves heard. Despite her nerves being plainly visible, she delivered her speech gracefully, explaining how our critical and creative faculties are on life support because of our over-reliance on AI. She elaborated that when we repeatedly consult AI for even our most basic questions and tasks, it stunts our ability to come up with tangible solutions to unaddressed issues. When she moved on to creative thinking, I was immediately transported to the first half of this month. I had been asked to evaluate English poems written by high school students across North Goa. Sadly, only three poems had been written by the students themselves, while the rest were “promptly” generated by none other than “Agent AI”. When Agent AI is made to play substitute poet for the entire world’s population, we unsurprisingly end up with poems devoid of individual humanity. And creative thinking, to invoke the great Plath, is a dying art that Agent AI does exceptionally well. So, let’s sign off on the same note as the student did: “Let’s use AI for enhancement, rather than making it our entire brAIn.”
PS: Offending Agent AI would gladden my heart.
Ross Lopes, Mapusa
