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About Me
About Me
Austin Muzzy is a junior at Laguna Blanca School; he enjoys reading, drawing, and creative writing. He is a member of the Environmental Awareness club, likes playing Dungeons & Dragons, and loves his two cats, Gojira and Junie. He is researching the effects of Artificial Intelligence in creative spaces for his Humanities Capstone Project.
The Project
The Project
Inspiration
Inspiration
When I was younger, I read constantly. Every bit of free time I had, I would read whatever book I had on hand. During lunchtime, I would read books in the school library, and I would even bring them to family dinners. This love of reading has instilled in me a great respect and passion for the art that is language and literature. However, we are facing an unprecedented change in our society that affects both of them.
Premise
Premise
Austin's project seeks to analyze a turning point in human history—the widespread adoption of Artificial Intelligence and how it will affect creative spaces such as writing, reading, and art. The project explores the ethics of AI, the risks it poses, and how we can use it without compromising human creativity.
What Makes Writing Important?
What Makes Writing Important?
Writing is the very fabric of society. The entirety of known human knowledge and experience is written down in some form, and that is not going to change. Because of this, understanding how to write, read, and think critically is imperative for understanding the vast trove of written knowledge available to us. However, the rise of AI is threatening that ability, especially among young students.
Why are students choosing to use AI?
Why are students choosing to use AI?
The truth is, schools value the product over the process. Instead of promoting growth and the process of writing, schools expect students to produce a good paper in a short amount of time. This is exactly why students use tools like ChatGPT. Instead of being given the time they need to think things through, they feel forced to rely on something that can do that thinking in a short amount of time.
Why is this a problem?
Why is this a problem?
AI usage has a proven negative impact on the brain
AI usage has a proven negative impact on the brain
MIT studies show that students who use AI to write essays experience lower brain activity while writing than students who don't. This leads them to have less percieved ownership over their work and a harder time remembering what they wrote.
Allowing AI to generate content for us creates a homogenous and algorithmic culture
Allowing AI to generate content for us creates a homogenous and algorithmic culture
AI always uses the safe option when generating content, which means it constantly uses the same language and style in its text and images. By using AI more, it creates a monoculture of scripts, papers, and stories that all use the word "delve" way too often.
Overreliance on AI weakens critical thinking skills
Overreliance on AI weakens critical thinking skills
What many students do not realize is that school assignments are designed to teach critical thinking skills. By using AI to work on these assignments, they miss out on the practice that is meant to set them up for success in the future.
Articles
Articles
-MIT Media Lab
“A.I. Is Homogenizing Our Thoughts.”
-The New Yorker
“Opinion | Why Even Basic A.I. Use Is So Bad for Students.”
-The New York Times
Interview with Shahram Izadi
Interview with Shahram Izadi
Mr. Izadi is the General Manager of Extended Reality at Google (virtual/augmented reality) and often uses AI in his work. He is a Laguna dad, and I had the privilege of interviewing him for my project. Mr. Izadi and I certainly do not agree on everything when it comes to AI, but his ideas and opinions were very insightful and helped shape my project. You can view his responses to my questions with the button below.
External Links to More of Austin's Project
External Links to More of Austin's Project
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