As a soon-to-be new member of the workforce, I thought it would be prudent to take some classes in my second semester of senior year about artificial intelligence systems and the roles they play in our lives, both personally and professionally. “Imagining a Future of AI & Us” with Professor Haiyan Jia and “Digital Life & the Search for Meaning” with Professor Jeremy Littau, both in the Department of communications and journalism, have provided me with a new perspective on this topic.
In a lot of ways, I enjoy the existence of AI. It helps me read articles faster and more efficiently, take proper notes, develop angle ideas for discussion posts, and cite my sources. I get my work done quicker with AI than any study buddy I’ve collaborated with over the years. But all that is what concerns me.
I’m a journalism major looking for a career in communications and public relations. I love to write and be creative. I feel most accomplished when I finish a long assignment and can reread my work and marvel, “Wow, I wrote that?” I hope to get a job after graduation where that kind of professional fulfillment and peace happens to me daily. However, with the increasing prominence of AI in writing, these fields are at the highest risk of being changed.
The fields of interest for me are being upended by these advances in astronomical ways. AI, unlike us pesky humans, always works to maximum efficiency and never takes sick days. It also can, in some cases, do the work of tens or hundreds of employees simultaneously. Previously abundant jobs, like those in customer service, have already begun to dry up as an effect of the attractiveness of AI to employers. Slowly, efficiency and efficacy are taking center stage as the most important traits in a worker. Conveniently, AI and chatbots like Chat GPT and Microsoft’s Copilot surpass humans in these areas with flying colors.
As doomsday as this blog post is reading so far, I want to emphasize a point: Do I think we as a society of entry-level workers are doomed? No way.
As AI continues to advance, writing-related careers in journalism, communications and public relations will undergo significant transformations. That’s just a fact. Embracing these changes with skepticism and criticism is of utmost importance. AI and other forms of smart tech can be the first step to a brighter reality for humanity. They can look at problems that have plagued Earth for generations in a brand new way. Reversing the effects of climate change, curing cancer and ending child hunger could just be a few lines of code away.
As long as society does not begin to blindly accept new technologies without considering the implications of their addition to something as important as livelihood, we should be okay. For now.