Artificial intelligence (AI) has had a growing influence in our world. I mean, it’s on nearly every phone, computer, and smart device. Some people have a positive take on AI, but others think it’s going to lead to a robotic takeover. If it gets me out of school, a world dominated by AI doesn’t sound so bad.

About two months ago, Snapchat released “My AI”. It uses a software called ChatGPT, one of the most advanced AI software on the market. “My AI” has its own bitmoji, and users are able to customize it with personal preferences. It’s also forcibly pinned at the top of everyone’s feed, making it visible every time the app is opened.

Many people were creeped out by “My AI”. It will comment something random like, “looking great!” on pictures sent to it, and has features that make it friendly and sound more humanlike which is weird to begin with. My parents are freaked out by it and even pay four dollars a month for Snapchat Premium to unpin it. Even I, who doesn’t see a problem with the feature still chose to unpin it. I bet many others would do the same; not everyone is interested in having an artificial “best friend”. To be honest, I only use it to ask simple questions or to help with homework, it does reply immediately which is a plus.

In movies, AI is often portrayed as super-intelligent to the point where they are able to take over the world and conquer humankind. While I doubt this is anywhere near possible, with the rapid development and capabilities of this technology being extreme it can only make some people wonder.

AI isn’t only for personal use and movies though, it’s often used in healthcare, being able to analyze X-rays, CT scans, and MRIs. I’m not sure how this differs from the human eye, wouldn’t doctors be equally as capable? The main issue that I see with it is the reliability of the technology. False diagnoses can be fatal so do we really want to put our lives in the hands of a program typed by some people in a lab or something?

Outside of the hospital, it can be used in biometrics, a form of security that is able to scan facial or other bodily features to determine the identity of a person, kind of like how an iPhone scans your face to unlock. Maybe they should just use all the cyber stalker girls who can find your mom’s maiden name with just your initials. Regardless, the same question applies to this as well, how well can it determine someone’s identity? I don’t know about anyone else but I would not be very happy if I got detained for something I didn’t do because the AI though some rando was me.

Does AI need to be so frequent in everyday life? Snapchat, Instagram, and other social media have their own forms of AI, do we need it here? It can change the world, which is great, but I don’t need it replying to my Snapchat. It’s frequent in school as well, teachers need to use turnitin.com to check for AI-generated work nowadays.

While I believe that this technology can revolutionize the world, I don’t necessarily need it to revolutionize my toaster. I’d be curious to see where artificial intelligence can take us, but hopefully without world domination.