I believe that AI is taking over the world. This issue matters because of all the negative effects that come with using it. What is AI? Artificial intelligence is a computer system that performs tasks that require human intelligence. AI has several negative effects on the environment, social and political manipulation.
AI data centers consume and waste lots of carbon and water daily. AI contributes to greenhouse gases being emitted into the air and consuming lots of electricity. This contributes to greenhouse gas emissions. According to the International Energy Agency, U.S. data center electricity consumption was approximately 4% of U.S. electricity demand in 2022 and could be 6% of demand in 2026. The high energy used for updating AI models is mostly generated by fossil fuels. If these nonrenewable fossil fuels run out, society will collapse and cause a decrease in carbon emissions. Once this is decreased, the environment will be able to start recovering from pollution.
Additionally, social and political manipulation has had multiple negative effects on society with deepfakes and synthetic media. A deepfake is a video of a person in which their face or body has been digitally altered so that they appear to be someone else and is mostly used to spread misinformation. In 2024, a deepfake created from AI of former president Joe Biden told Democrats not to vote in the state’s primary that was days away. In 2023 during Slovakian election, an AI-generated audio deepfake targeted a liberal political party just before the vote. In both situations disinformation due to AI powered manipulation impacted politics and influenced elections.
“I hate AI, it is taking over the world,” said sophomore Caleb Hyde.
In contrast, using AI has lots of advantages like helping analyze medical images to detect diseases faster than a human. Although this may be true, AI is taking over healthcare jobs that require human workers and is leaving people jobless and causing economic disruption.
In conclusion, I think AI is taking over the world. It is very harmful to not only our environment but can affect social and political opinion and elections. If you do use AI, double check information to ensure its accuracy and be aware of risks using it.
