Embracing AI

As we close 2024 and move forward to 2025, I have become more anxious about embracing artificial intelligence (AI), fearful as with all other technological advancements, that I will become so dependent on it that even in writing my column I may fall into the habit of using AI, especially when my muse eludes me or when I become too lazy to do my own research.

- MARIANNE GO

When I was studying—from grade school up to college—a good part of writing term papers or reports involved doing research work in libraries, and particularly helpful were massive tomes of encyclopedias. It was even a dream to have our parents invest in a full collection, which at the time was quite expensive—pretty much like buying a gadget in this day and age.

Even then, we were wont to merely copy what the encyclopedia contained, mistakes and all, especially if the encyclopedia one used was an old copy and the data had already been updated in more recent editions.

But alas, what we once thought would last for decades and could be used by different generations was rendered obsolete by the advent of technological advancements, specifically digital technology. The printed edition, of course, are voluminous and still involved searching for the proper topic and data.

With digital technology and computers, it became easier and convenient to rely on search engines to find and collect information, background and data. It became much easier to write reports, term papers and theses.

And now, change is once again upon us. AI is now being incorporated in almost all gadgets, and programs like ChatGPT are now commonly being used. However, programs like ChatGPT have the major flaw of lacking personality—every writer has a style and it is reflected in their writing. At present the current programs still offer stilted or stylized output that can easily be discerned by good editors, but of course are allowed to be used anyway.

AI, of course, is proving useful and soon necessary in such tasks as transcription of interviews, although the quality of the transcripts still needs a lot of cross-checking for accuracy. But I have to admit that it has helped me tremendously in transcribing long interviews that in the past I had to painstakingly transcribe for hours.

But with the technology comes the threat of reshaping the labor force.