Michele Shrem
The emergence of Artificial Intelligence (AI) is often compared to the discovery of fire or the invention of electricity. This new technology is changing the path of civilization. Today, AI is no longer a futuristic concept confined to scientific laboratories. It is the silent engine behind our morning playlists, the ghostwriter in our office software, and the diagnostic eye in our hospitals.
However, as AI integrates into the intimate spaces of our homes and the high-stakes environments of our workplaces, a significant debate has emerged: is AI a helpful, good assistant or is AI a disruptive force that is harmful to us? Community members have different opinions about AI altogether and also concerning where we should draw the line. Let’s hear what different community members think. Included here are both men and women, some who work on site, others who work remotely. Included in this small survey are stay-at-home moms and dads as well.
Ezra M.
To me, AI is the ultimate force in productivity. From my perspective as a CEO, AI is the greatest gift to the modern workforce. By automating boring, repetitive tasks – data entry, scheduling, and basic reporting – AI frees my employees to engage in deeper work projects. At work, the line is drawn at routine. If a task is predictable, AI should handle it. This does not mean that you will be able to replace workers, but it changes them, allowing a single employee to produce the output of a ten-person team. This can potentially allow an employee to move up the ladder at a faster rate.
Jeannie T.
My worry is the fear of losing my job and being unemployed in the future. If AI can do my job better and faster than I can, this is a real concern, not just for me, but for many out there in the job force. If hundreds of employees are cut from a company, leaving a smaller work force, the companies will do better as they keep those salaries to mix into their revenue. The only losers in the whole thing are the employees. Not only that, but finding another job will be a tremendous problem, since many companies will be doing the same thing. The middle class who have jobs in certain fields such as coding, accounting, and research, will be replaced. We need to ensure that AI remains a tool used by people rather than as a substitute for employees.
Teddy A.
I feel like AI is an intrusive presence in my home. I feel that voice-activated assistants and predictive smart homes create a life that saps the human brain. If you need AI to decide the temperature of your room, the music you hear, and the grocery list you prepare, are you still the master of your own domain? We should be able to be ourselves and make our own decisions. AI can be helpful when it can execute a command, but harmful when it anticipates one without our consent.
Lori P.
Privacy is extremely important to me, and with AI, I feel that my entire life is on display for the whole world to see. To me it is like a hungry machine that keeps eating and eating my personal data. With every keystroke, AI is listening to everything and even tracks our sleep patterns. While AI should be helpful to us, I feel like I live under heavy surveillance. I have read books about dystopian worlds, but I never thought that the world I live in would be so similar. I don’t feel that AI should be allowed to eavesdrop and store intimate behavioral patterns and on top of that make money by selling the information to outside third parties. To me, AI is scary.
Michele S.
As a writer, my take on AI is very complex. On one hand, it can create a masterpiece in seconds. But to what end? It uses millions of works done by other people and without monetary compensation. It lacks the uniqueness of the human experience and threatens the livelihood of writers, artists, designers, and others. Nothing is original anymore. AI should be a canvas, not the painter. For myself, I am always torn between using it. Now, I have gained the experience that allows me to use AI as an assistant, and for me, this works. I can still be creative, but instead of taking an hour to think of a better way to say something, I can get the help I need in an instant, and still be able to not lose my train of thought.
Anonymous Community Doctor
In the medical field, the argument for AI is overwhelmingly positive. AI algorithms can detect Stage 1 lung cancer or rare retinal diseases with higher accuracy than human specialists. In the home, AI-powered wearables [for cardiac or other patients] can predict a heart attack before the wearer feels a chest pain. Here, AI can be a real asset to human life by using it as a diagnostic tool, but the responsibility of care is still the burden of the doctor. I feel that something that benefits my patients is a tool that I must use in order to keep them safe and live a longer life.
Judy T.
As a mother and a teacher, I feel a unique challenge. AI can provide personalized tutoring to a child at home, adapting to their specific learning pace. However, it also enables a culture of “shortcut learning” via tools like ChatGPT. The idea is that AI is helpful for supplementation but harmful for substitution. The development of critical thinking is a very important skill, which will be lost. AI should help a student understand a concept, not write the essay for them.
Raymond A.
I happen to work in a technical field, and I feel that AI is only as good as the data being fed into it. How is AI making decisions and reaching conclusions? We need to make our own decisions and not leave it to AI. This is a very dangerous road to go down. The information can certainly be biased, based on so many factors. I think this can be very harmful, especially for children and young adults who may not fully understand how to use AI properly as an assist, and not as a resource to provide a full-blown answer for important matters. Whether it is used to figure out a homework problem, peer issue, medical problem, or anything else, if the information entered is not accurate, and a young person sees it on there, they may then factualize the information, and then we have a big problem.
Nathan C.
AI is a double-edged sword. It hardens our cyber defenses but also accelerates the spread of false information and market-manipulating disinformation. The challenge isn’t just about authenticating the source – it’s about data integrity. When bad actors inject fraudulent data into the training loop, the AI becomes a megaphone for deception. We don’t just need to know who wrote it, we also need to ensure the underlying data hasn’t been corrupted.
Goldy R.
Is anyone going to actually think on their own? If AI doesour work, manages our homes, and solves our problems, do we lose the very challenges that give life meaning? I think AI can be harmful, since it is removing the need for a person to think and to expend effort to think outside of the box. Creativity will lessen over time, and to me this is very sad.
In conclusion, it seems that most of our community members do not like AI for home or work, based on a variety of reasons. Many feel that the line between helpful and harmful AI is a moving target that requires constant monitoring. The consensus is that at work AI should be used as a co-pilot to assist us, while leaving the final decisions to people. At home, the line should be drawn when it infringes on our privacy or our ability to be present for those around us. Our homes should remain a sanctuary where people are allowed to live without the constant gaze of Big Brother. Ultimately, AI is a mirror of its creators. If we value efficiency above all else, AI will be a cold, efficient master. If we value empathy, creativity, and privacy, we can steer this technology to be the most helpful assistant humanity has ever known.
Michele