I don't have anyone around me who, like me, has been working with AI so much and for so long. Even the head of our HR department barely knew ChatGPT existed until last week. My first conversation with ChatGPT was in early 2023, and since then not a day has gone by without me using some form of AI.
I feel a one-sided kinship with the people who are into it, the podcasts I listen to, the people I follow, and at the same time a loneliness in my immediate surroundings. No one near me who's in it as daily as I am. Hence this text: an attempt to get that enthusiasm onto paper, and maybe reach some like-minded people.
1. Education and AI: Memorising capitals or smart glasses?
During one of my runs, while listening to a podcast about AI in education, I agreed with the speaker so often that I was nodding the whole time. Combined with the fact that I was speaking thoughts into the 'Voicenotes' app every few minutes, it must have been a strange sight for bystanders.
I did teacher training and worked for a few years as a teacher in vocational education. I've experienced how slowly change happens, and when it comes to AI I'm genuinely worried.
My son and daughter go to a Jenaplan school. My seven-year-old sometimes does maths on a laptop, but otherwise he mostly learns things I wonder whether they're the right ones for this generation. When I have to give him eye drops or want to teach him to tie his shoelaces, I notice that talking to ChatGPT works really well. It gets us out of the negative mood together, and the chatbot's creative solutions are refreshing. My son and I take the advice seriously and often reach a creative solution.
I'd much rather see a more modular education system, where it's easier to adapt teaching to individual students or small groups. There should be more scientific discussion about whether, and to what extent, children still need to know all the capital cities by heart, learn their times tables and know the German articles. I'm 99% sure that in ten years every young adult will walk around with smart glasses or a little pin on their shirt that they can ask anything they want. The answer then comes at the right level, fully personal and with a didactically clear explanation. Even if they don't get it through earbuds but on a screen, a drawing, graph or an avatar teacher appears right away to explain it better and answer follow-up questions.
2. The convenience society: Phones on the toilet and other habits
I'm convinced that we're all heading in the wrong direction when it comes to seeking convenience. I think it's disastrous for humanity: from always dressing warmly, to reaching for your phone at the slightest hint of boredom, like while taking a dump. And if you then also hand over the computer tasks that still make you think and concentrate to something like Claude, I have my doubts about that.
Personally I already notice how dependent I am on AI and how much I trust it. Like getting help finding a structure and writing this text. I've spent far too much time fine-tuning an AI output and refining a prompt, but often going back to your own brain for a moment is actually a better and more efficient solution.
But my hope is that we'll then have so much time left as humans that, working together with AI, we can reach great heights and solutions we can't even imagine yet. Think of new fuels that can save the earth, new ways of doing politics and living together.
Still, I worry that people will then drift very far from the core, from nature, and keep choosing only the easiest path.
I try to 'solve' this for myself by taking ice baths, cold showers, watching Kamp van Koningsbrugge (a Dutch military-endurance TV show) and having myself dropped in the woods for 24 hours (that one still has to happen).
3. Ethical and privacy dimensions of AI: Quantum computers and cold shivers
Like many people, I have my concerns about the ethical and privacy aspects of AI. The rapid developments and the competitive race in the AI world worry me. Is enough thought being given to the long term? Are ethical choices sometimes put below financial ones? Where does all our data go that we send into the cloud for AI? I also worry about the spread of disinformation through deepfakes, people ending up in a tunnel of (fake) news because of the algorithms, and the lack of transparency in complex AI systems. And maybe in eight years there'll be a quantum computer developed far enough that our whole security system of passwords and the like is suddenly wide open.
Addition: My art project 'Digitally Revitalising a Deceased Person'
I applied for a startup grant for my art project about 'digitally revitalising a deceased person'. Losing my father pushed me to explore how AI can contribute to preserving memories and creating a digital representation of a loved one who's no longer here.
I think it's worth exchanging thoughts about this, about the overlap between grief, memory and what AI can mean there. Maybe together we can go deeper into the ethical, philosophical and emotional aspects of 'making someone immortal' with the help of AI.
Closing: A call for like-minded people
With all this information I simply want to say that I miss people I can talk to about AI, exchange ideas with and ask for help. I have a lot of ideas for applications that I often get stuck on (technically, or through a lack of interaction about them). It would be great to be able to spar about this.
Not just the practical applications, but also the philosophical aspects of AI and education fascinate me, and I'm happy to talk about those.
P.S. I wrote all the input for this text in one flow, but to make it a bit smoother and fix the spelling, I ran it through AI. That took 37 seconds. Not bad, right?