The new buzz word on the block is Artificial Intelligence, known to its friends as AI. It scares some (especially the older folk!), but it is an exciting development for many. We live in the future!
Experts say one should view the arrival of AI in the same light as that of the Internet. This also brought enormous changes in the 1990s and had people worried about the effect it would have on their lives. And look at us know… steering the internet like a jockey on a racehorse!
AI’s skills include:
Perceiving: AI systems “see” their environment through sensors such as cameras or microphones, or by processing existing data (for example your fitness watch, when you unlock your phone with facial recognition or that Temu suggestion of items you may like).
Learning: AI systems can learn from new information and past experiences to improve performance over time.
Problem-solving and decision-making: AI can analyse data and identify patterns to make informed decisions and solve complex problems.
Responding: Based on their analysis, AI systems can act and respond with a view to achieving goals.
How can I use AI to make my life easier – or more interesting?
With a smart phone in hand a world of info awaits. But as with many things, the outcome depends on how you navigate the info you get. Think of it like this: if you walk through a strange city and choose the dodgy streets you’ll end up in danger or at the dumpsters. If you choose the well-travelled and well-lit streets and use a map, you’ll end up exactly where you want to be. Use AI to add to what you already bring to the table. You can use AI to explain difficult concepts to you, to do research, to summarise information and to translate. You can give your creative side a super boost by creating original music, digital art and tell unique stories in new creative ways. If entrepreneurship is your thing AI can help with designs, generating content and product development. All this within SECONDS.
Easy ways to start
Meta AI on WhatsApp is easily accessible through your search bar at the top. Post your question and then click on the multi-coloured circle on your right. From here you can give it voice prompts, just as you would send voice notes. Try something silly such as asking it to create a picture with a bear wearing boots and a pink apron making pancakes and see what happens. You can also access ChatGPT’s free version or download the app. The AI-generated voices that respond to your questions are uncannily life-like.
For those who dream of making music AI has thrown the door wide open. You can use apps such as Suno, Loudly or Canva by a text prompt that explains what you want. You can provide lyrics (or ask it to generate some), what genre you want and other styles or beats you want it to add. On some platforms you can hum the tune to give it an idea of what you want.
This, unfortunately, has caused headaches for current artists. Collaborations, that never happened in real life, are becoming more popular. Fans created an AI song that went viral with the AI-generated voice of Taylor Swift singing a love song for Travis Kelce. Many people didn’t realise it was entirely fake! More recently “Heart On My Sleeve” mimicking the voices of Drake and The Weekend went viral and according to fans, sounded like the real thing.
Always wanted to be an artist but, although you have the ideas, you are not that good at drawing? Have a look at the AI artworks Billy Lee creates with Midjourney.
Schoolwork
A definite no, as it means that you won’t master important skills such as writing coherently, planning a piece of work, memorising large pieces of information, understanding maths principles and critical thinking. You know, the things that will make you successful. You want to master AI, not be a slave to it. Learn the skills you need and use AI to enhance what you can already do yourself. Just as AI helps you to complete schoolwork, it also helps teachers detect work that’s been done using AI. Programmes such as Turnitin, ZeroGPT and others will tell if your writing’s been done by AI.
Some useful tools
ChatGPT, CoPilot and DeepSeek’s chatbot are generative AI tools that produce text, images, code and other material. Character AI is another chatbot where one can interact with customiseable characters.
Meta AI and Google’s Gemini hold text conversations with users.
Midjourney, DALL-E or Veo 3 are dedicated to creating images or video from simple text prompts.
Khanmigo, Quizlet, Notion AI and Snapchat’s My AI may be useful for school work as it helps you plan and study. Teensinai encourages teenagers to consider careers in technology and AI.
Will AI take our jobs?
Experts say that AI may take over jobs involving routine tasks, but many new jobs will also be created by this development. Just look at new careers that have stemmed or benefited from the internet: web designers, programmers, graphic designers.
The trick is to keep on learning and improving your skills.
Jobs not threatened by AI typically require unique human skills like creativity, empathy, complex-problem solving and intricate hands-on work. These include professions in health care (doctors and nurses), education (teachers), skilled trades (electricians and plumbers) and various creative fields (artists and writers). Roles involving high levels of human interaction, strategic decision making and physical agility in unpredictable environments are considered relatively safe from automation.
A rollercoaster; continued development
AI as a concept has been around for decades, and the term “articifial intelligence” was already coined in a research paper in 1955. Is AI, or Generative AI as we’ve seen most recently, the latest thing? Apparently not! According to experts the next big thing will most likely be Agentic AI. This comprises autonomous systems that can make decisions and take actions independently to achieve specific goals. Agentic AI will be able to handle tasks and solve problems proactively without having to be supervised constantly.
Keeping safe in a digital age
When using the internet and AI check your apps’ privacy settings and do not share information you do not want to be made public, for safety’s sake. The usual guideline is, if you’re not okay with everyone knowing, rather don’t post it.
Remember, AI is a new technology and its responses may not be accurate or appropriate. Double-check the answers with reputable sources. It should never replace humans in your life. If you need life advice, a real hug, medical or relationship advice, find a flesh-and-blood person to do these things.
AI is amazing and ground-breaking, but remember it cannot think, empathise or crack a joke.
It is, after all, only a machine or a machine-generated product.
