About Josie

I am Josie Hall, a senior at Geneva High School and a member of the AI Course. Outside of this class, I participate in many hobbies and extracurricular activities. I am on the varsity track team, and the varsity girls tennis team. I also have been involved with the GHS Literary Society and am an active member of the National Honor Society. I also have interned at Cornell Agritech, and BluePrint Geneva. In my free time, I enjoy the outdoors, staying active, and spending time with friends and family. Next year I will be attending SUNY Cortland and plan on studying either Sociology or Speech Pathology. I look forward to continuing my knowledge and understanding of the impact of AI and the significance of its role in our advancing fast paced society. 

This recent week in our AI course, we have focused on the current war between the United States and Iran. In this time of uncertainty and corruption, it is crucial to learn about the real world applications of AI and the way it interacts with more significant concepts, such as politics, international conflict, and even war. As AI rapidly increases, we learn about the interactions with ourselves, and our society as a whole, including the government. We took a deeper dive into the intricacies of the war and why it is happening as we ask ourselves the questions: what is the purpose and what will be the outcome? 

This week our focus was narrowed to the motives behind the war, which include geopolitics.

Geopolitics are largely responsible for the tension and unrest at hand, and the territorial power these nations hold. Oil is internationally the primary source of energy and electricity, and having control over oil establishes dominance in the global economy. As of right now our war faces an imbalance as the US holds an asymmetric position. Although we possess glamorized military technology, Iran ultimately has control of oil and a geographical upper hand. The United States however, utilizes AI as a strategic military resource.

The United States, as well as other world powers, for instance Russia, Iran, and China, are ultimately on a hunt for control of intelligence. Our country is very technologically advanced, and can manipulate artificial intelligence in order to gain support for the war as well as create false narratives. To start off this unit, we were shown an AI generated video released by the White House regarding the war. It contained an overdramatic edit of AI bowling pins being compared to nuclear weapons, with bowling pins holding a sign saying “we won't stop making nuclear weapons.” This video is an example of AI propaganda, and demonstrates the United States current pro-war attitude and the lengths it will go to attempt to gain public support for this conflict. It has even been speculated that there are AI generated videos falsely displaying the United States bombing Iranian military targets, which spreads both fear and misinformation.

Throughout this course we have studied the various perspectives of AI usage, scaling from doomerism (AI as a source of fear and discomfort) to sycophancy (AI as a futuristic utopia). While considering the current role AI is playing in the war, we began to wonder what concerns that could hold for our future. We have learned about other examples of AI assisting the government in this class, and some might believe this is a positive change, while others may fear the possible catastrophic outcomes. Is it really ethical to let AI participate in international conflict to such a degree?