Wisdom From Around The Way
by Dr. Adriennie Y. Hatten
Remember the old saying ‘He say- She say?’ This phrase was often used by our elders to suggest the need to get past the opinions of others and to generate our own thoughts on a topic or a course of action.
We have to get past ‘He say She say’- to fully understand anything and to be sure we don’t accidentally throw the baby out with the bathwater or even worse- fail to engage in key changes in our society. Whether that is technology or changes in relevant policies and procedures that have the potential to affect our lives in a positive or negative way – like eligibility for certain social programs- house repairs, solar panel trials, AARP. Or, if it is newer laws that are in effect for drivers now in different states- related to cell phone use when driving or even switching lanes to leave an open lane between your car and emergency vehicles on the road ( you can get a ticket for either- actually). Software upgrades that allow you to use shortcuts with certain keys instead of going the longer route to get things done in Word or even to clear out old or duplicate photos in your mobile phone – can be helpful to you If you are aware that they exist and IF you know how to use them.
I still struggle with the remote and getting to programs on various apps yet I realize that my 2- year old granddaughter can get on YouTube after powering the tv on- in a matter of seconds! When I first saw her do it- I was still chasing her to get the remote from her and next thing I knew Gracie was singing and dancing! Lol! I will tell you, that incident made me practice and figure it out because I could not be outdone by a 2-year-old!
I realize there are programs such as the Aspire program in Northeast Ohio that allow you to work on your GED or other necessary skills virtually! Talk about the opportunity to not have to spend additional money on transportation, or childcare, or other caregiver responsibilities you might have at home- that’s truly eliminating barriers and adding value to a cellphone or a simple laptop or tablet in your home. There are new opportunities such as these, that when we become aware of them and can move past some of our own inner fears can make positive changes in our lives, save us time, and improve the overall qualities of our efforts.
I have been pondering the value of Artificial Intelligence, and trying to wrap my head around what it is and how to use it- or even if- I want to use it in my life. I can’t make any valid decisions on ‘ he say she say’ so I have been looking, listening and even dabbling in it a bit. Co- pilots have been showing up everywhere- on Facebook, on Word, on Zoom and even on my Safari searches- spaces that I tend to use quite frequently. To be honest, for a very long time I had no idea why. I thought it was just Big Brother watching! I still try to turn the note taker off when I am on virtual meetings and will likely actually keep doing that. I have heard of Chat GPT and various AI platforms that can be accessible for a fee and some for no cost.
I found myself wondering- Is AI a tool – like public education initially was- just to indoctrinate the masses? Is it a tool to foster unconscious incompetence – to just keep us from not knowing what we don’t know or even a tool to foster an overinflated sense of confidence in what we ‘think’ we know ? I operate from a paradigm I learned long ago: that we move from data- to information- to knowledge. I believe that in some ways AI asserts that it does the first 2 steps for us and then generates the knowledge for us which raises the huge question of trust for me. Can I trust Artificial intelligence to move through these critical steps FOR me and what are the real checks and balances on the knowledge that AI generates? What is the foundational knowledge that AI builds off and whose thoughts are those?
Here are some things I have seen and heard about the benefits and challenges that AI poses for the average person in society today. I have intentionally started paying more attention and listening and asking questions about AI because it has the potential to change the way we ‘know’ things and the questions that we will need to ask to be critical users of information and knowledge in the future.
How he say-she say does AI account for knowledge that was never included or is even being Erased today based on the pen of elected officials? If you erase the contributions and history of Black Americans off websites, online training materials, and other spaces that stored their contributions- where AI goes to gather data and information- then the knowledge that it generates will be false. Period. Can we rely on AI to correct false information or missing information about other cultures when humans refuse to do so?
AI will allegedly give us all equal access to the knowledge that it generates- and I have heard it said that it will literally do the thinking for us all.
AI and the related platforms will be Inaccessible to low-income people due to costs related to the ‘digital divide’. Therefore, entire groups of people all over the world will not have access and will remain out of the loop and fall further behind.
AI will save us time and enhance work we are doing daily- especially for small businesses. It will perform some of the necessary operations so humans can spend more time doing other things.
AI will be useful tool for Editing our own writing- helping to polish our own ideas and to generate new ideas for us to ponder, sort of like encyclopedias were for many of us when we were in school AI will make our presentations prettier and help us to clarify our positions so that our audiences can better understand our perspectives. In essence, we all will be able to be authors and journalists (I am not sure if this is a positive or a negative).
AI can regulate misinformation in the media from social media because it can factcheck and override media algorithms and malicious distortions of the truth based on the agenda of the author.
Every technology starts with fear and ends with progress. AI is no different.
Thumbs up or Down?
Here is where I am landing in my quest for understanding at this time.
While it could be a tool to promote equality, AI can be used to distort the truth in ways that I find both challenging and frightening at the same time.
Social media is crashing out as the young folks say. I sometimes forget it is yet another tool to be used by the status quo. I guess nothing may be authentic now except face-to-face interactions. I started out using social media to keep in touch with my people around the world, but I know it’s not that now. AI has changed the authenticity of anything there- and I just had that revelation when I recently saw a video of someone who dies in a tragic accident saying it was all a lie and they were not deceased. It was so ‘real’ it left me wondering if everything I had seen and read in the last 3 days was a lie. If AI can be used that way- then it is dangerous.
I also found out that AI can be used to create a conversation that appears to come from people who were not actually in the original conversation- if that conversation has been previously recorded! The new conversation not only can bring in new voices but also new ideas that may or may not represent those from the original speaker. In fact, those ideas can be challenged or overshadowed by the perspectives of the person who initiated the AI inquiry. While it can be helpful, I suppose, it was kind of scary and odd hearing a conversation that I had been in originally literally remade using AI. The ability to use AI in this way makes me nervous. The degree of risk of slant or misrepresentation or flawed electronic fact-checking from a computer can be greater depending on the subject matter, and the amount of factual information that still exists- given the recent scrubbing that has been initiated by the American government in 2025 and the long-term commitment of this country to censor the contributions of non-white voices.
I have not heard that AI will be able to address this huge concern of mine or how. Will Algorithms that are created and used to drive AI platforms promote truth and inclusion of diverse perspectives? Can a computer do critical research analysis? I’m not convinced that it can.
I heard someone say that AI will have Human cognitive abilities but not human emotions so we will always need humans to do the jobs of caring for each other like work in daycares or patient care roles. I found this to be an odd perspective. Do we actually think something created by human- can recreate something as intricate as the human brain where emotions and thoughts combine to cover human actions, interactions and consciousness? Do we believe that the created can create something greater than the Creator?
I am of the belief still that what is put on the inside of a computer brain will come out just as what is in the heart of a person, comes out of their mouth. If what is put in represents the interests of big business, or billionaires, or even non-inclusive individuals then I am not convinced that this technology will solve the human challenges of promoting equity and inclusion for all or leveling the playing field in any way. How will we educate all people to recognize the strengths and limitations of this technology so that humans can use it to enhance our own existence? If we don’t, then I fear that AI will just be another tool to promote the status quo of bias that humans continue to struggle with. Some will have access to it while others will have control and others will lack awareness and full access to the projected benefits of AI, moving forward.
What Say You?