Artificial Intelligence is something we can’t avoid in today’s world. It’s everywhere, on your phone, tablet, and computer. AI is growing every day and it’s becoming more common to use because of its convenience and helpfulness. I’ll admit it, I often use the AI assistant on my phone to set timers and alarms as well as make calls and send texts to people. It’s convenient for me and many other students on campus which is why it’s so popular.

I decided to interview students around the College of Sequoias Visalia campus to try to get an understanding of what their opinion on AI is. A good number of people believe that AI can be a helpful tool if used correctly. It can keep you informed and give you inspiration if you’re having issues starting something. However, this information isn’t always correct, so most students believe AI should not be your main source of information. Along with that, most students believe AI should not be used for harmful reasons such as deep fakes. On the internet, we’ve seen many cases of deep fakes harming people, one example is when someone deep faked Taylor Swift and convinced some of her fans that she had partnered with Le Creuset and claimed she was giving away free cookware sets. Fans were then directed to a website that was designed to steal their personal information.

Only a few students that I talked to were completely against AI, their main reason being dependence on the software. Students believe our younger generations are using it so much that they are becoming dependent on it and being dependent on an AI to write your papers and answer your questions doesn’t actually promote any sort of learning. A study from Harvard shows that half of young people from ages 14-22 have used generative AI at some point and due to how accessible AI is this number can only triple from here. Trenton Rose, a student here at COS, told me that “AI can be useful, especially for research; however, it tends to be overused, especially for art and cheating.”

While conducting these interviews, I was informed about the environmental effects of AI. PBS News states that “The Power Industry is one of the top sources of U.S. greenhouse gas emissions; and now with the rise of AI technology, demand on power plants is increasing in large part due to AI’s reliance on the data centers. I believe my Student Senate colleague Steven Walker says it best.  “If you don’t learn how to tame the horse, it’s gonna get away from you.” AI is almost unavoidable, and most students on campus believe that it’s helpful. However, they also believe that it shouldn’t be used for bad, and should be moderated so it doesn’t get out of hand.