PSY206_F24 - #6: Morgan R., Breanna, Moon, Maggie

Hello AI Explorers and Creatives!

If you're feeling curious, hesitant, excited, or weary about the possibilities of AI, especially when it comes to how it will impact human creativity, then you've come to the right place! We're excited to present to you a story of discovery from our own experiences using AI to support our creativity. We'll share how we overcame technological obstacles and made AI work in each our our lives. We hope you'll find tips, tricks, and plenty of inspiration.

Four college students from vastly different backgrounds stumbled upon an unexpected intersection amid their academic pursuits: artificial intelligence. Each of them, driven by their unique passions and challenges, sought to integrate this emerging technology into their lives. These students had heard of the advancements in AI development but had varying levels of experience when it came to using it. Each of them had different interests, hobbies, and creative endeavors that they hoped AI could complement, but these programs were unfamiliar and seemed daunting to use at first. It was hard to narrow down how they should even prompt such programs, but through trial and error, each student conducted a variation of field research in regards to using AI as a resource for their prospective interests. These are their stories!

Discover more about their creative endeavors below!

To begin my journey, I was not really familiar with artificial intelligence, also known as AI, or using a planner at all. I was very nervous, to say the least. I hate seeing everything pile up and knowing how much work I have left. However, throughout this experiment, I learned that using a planner does not have to be dreadful but can actually be a relaxing task that can help you take a break from the outside world.

I focused my efforts on using AI as an organizational tool and exploring whether or not it would be a good fit for my goals. I'd never kept a planner before, so I tried using two different AI programs, Canva and Google NotebookLM, to help keep me organized. I compared this to my experience with my first paper-and-pen style planner. Throughout my journey of using AI to create a planner, I learned that although it is great and becoming an important part of our future, this does not mean that artificial intelligence will be applicable in every situation.

I learned that Google Notebook LM was great for previously existing notes and documents but not great for starting from scratch or trying to make a planner. I found that other software, such as Canva, could be easier to use since it had templates and planner outlines. However, it was still not ideal as the controls were hard to use and not as time-efficient for tasks like highlighting and inputting information needing to be organized. This experience taught me that some things are just not yet ready to be used alongside artificial intelligence.

I also found that the tactile experience of creating and adding to a physical planner was more relaxing as it pertained to the idea of mindfulness and unplugging in the digital age. However, just because this was what worked best for me does not mean that these options will not work for others. This experience allowed me to explore using AI in different areas of my life, opened my eyes to the possibilities of other uses, and allowed me to familiarize myself with the tools and resources that now exist for us as college students.

Overall, I learned that using what works best for you is the most important task. Sometimes, having a break from the digital world is exactly what you need to feel less overwhelmed. However, I also learned that I have more tools available to me than I could have ever imagined. With just a touch of my fingertips, I learned how to work with AI and not try to force it to be perfect in every situation. Doing this experiment encouraged me to explore more AI programs, finding more purpose and uses for them for school or organizational tasks. Most importantly, I learned that keeping an open mind is the best tool you will ever use. Get creative and have fun!

Some tips from Maggie:

Sometimes, artificial intelligence is not the best option.

Prioritizing what makes you feel best, physically or mentally, can allow you to have some time for yourself while still being efficient.

Starting from scratch is hard, maybe have some notes.

With programs such as Google NotebookLM, start with notes and other documents to help the program understand what you are working with.

Keep an open mind!

Although these programs were not a great fit for my needs, I have begun to use Canva to make graphics for school projects, looking for other ways to use these programs, and keeping an open mind has continued to teach me how I can use AI to complement my everyday life.

Hi, my name is Breanna! I wanted to use AI to help me create a Dungeons and Dragons campaign. Our social lives are very important and with all of us being adults, sometimes it is hard to get together with our friends. I find Dungeons and Dragons to be a great way for all of my friends and I to be engaged and spend quality time together, but it takes a lot of time and energy to set up.

I had hoped to make this process a bit easier by using ChatGPT. I decided to use it to help with the creativity side, and the research side to see just how beneficial AI could be in this process. I tried creating the start of a campaign by myself and felt stuck as I knew I wanted to create something, but had no ideas that inspired me. I ended up spending much of my time just doing research on game lore, which is time-consuming and sometimes a bit frustrating. By the end of the 30 minutes I had given myself, it felt like I didn't have much of anything. This makes sense though, its pretty much impossible to create an incredible world from scratch with interesting plot hooks and mechanics in that amount of time. Being as busy as I am though, sometimes I only have about an hour and want to make a small story my friends can play through even if just for the night.

As previously stated, I turned to ChatGPT to see if I could do the impossible, and come up with something interesting in about 30 minutes. It was surprisingly good at boosting my creativity. I would ask for ideas, it would give me a list of places to start, and with a back and forth, ChatGPT and I slowly built some interesting ideas. It was certainly more of a brainstorming session than writing, but it got me excited about creating again.

The downside though was that when I tried to use it for actual game information like rules, mechanics, or stat blocks, it was always slightly off. It was close enough to sound right, but that made it worse because I would spend so much time having to double-check accuracy and find whatever small mistake it made. It was frustrating and I recognized that ChatGPT was not helpful in this regard.

Overall, using AI felt like having a little creativity machine. It helped me think outside of the box and piece together ideas that I may not have come up with on my own. But when it came to the nuts and bolts of the game, it reminded me that I still needed to rely on my own knowledge and resources. It wasn't perfect, but it was a tool that when used correctly, made the creative process a lot more manageable when I'm personally not feeling that spark.

I would recommend to someone using ChatGPT to help them boost their creativity but I can firmly say I would never suggest someone to ask it rules or lore about the game.

Hi! My name is First Moon Venecia and I had initially thought about using AI as a means for reconnecting after talking to my advisor about exploring different ways to preserve our cultural heritage and tradition. I prompted this conversation after crowdsourcing peoples opinions on using AI to document the stories of our elders in addition to culturally relevant traditions, and skills.

I used perplexity and Claude-AI to gain information on my tribes specific traditions, ceremonial practices, tribal language documentation and preservation, and specific skills such as dancing, or basket weaving. perplexity provided more elaborative responses than Claude, and even hyperlinked sources of information which was great for further exploring the prompts I provided. Claude-AI was more reserved in the responses, but overall I found that AI was very informative about all of these topics which came as a surprise. As someone who has spent much of my life trying to source information from my limited family connections and engaging in repeated exhaustive internet searches just to receive minimal findings, I was not expecting AI to provide much content. Contrary to this initial belief about the documentation and access to Karuk specific information, there was much to be reviewed. AI was able to compile everything in the existence of the internet and display it in one place making it the perfect aide for any person in their reconnecting journey. I discovered that AI can be used to reconnect to your individual community spaces and engage in communal healing simply by exploring facets of your culture that have been lost or diminished during assimilation efforts.

Another reason I wanted to test using AI as a resource for individuals in the processes of reconnecting came down to acknowledging what a privilege it is to have access to community members with the time and ability to teach and pass down tradition. Many Native people have assimilated to western ways of living especially when existing outside of their tribal communities and land. Even if there are people in the community to teach certain skills, you rely on their free labor and time that may need to be occupied by their job or familial obligations. With these specific barriers that exist in the western societal construct, it can be hard to find a place of belonging, but to know that AI is a resource to initiate that base level of imperative knowledge is huge! Starting this journey is the hardest part when you don't know where to turn, but don't fear there are ermerging options available.

Hello! My name is Morgan, and this is my story of using AI to get back in touch with my family heritage. I was initially inspired by Moon's idea to see if AI could be useful for preserving oral tradition. It made me think, "What are my cultural traditions?" We have a few things that we've made up through the years. We always eat cinnamon rolls on Christmas morning, we stay up late the night before watching movies, and we have a "pickle" present. But apart from a few holiday traditions, I couldn't think of anything in my life that connected me to my heritage.

You see, my family immigrated to Chicago from Poland in 1917, and we lost everything to cultural assimilation. Language, recipes, traditions, holidays, and even our Polish surname. So I wondered, what will I discover anything if I use AI to do some digging around in the history of Polish-American immigration? Will AI go in-depth enough? Will it give me a feeling of connection to my roots? Luckily, I didn't have to start my pursuit alone. My dad did have a few stories about some food he remembered eating when he was very young, and he retained a love for Pierogis (store-bought, of course).

So, using the stories he told me (although they offered a very narrow view of the experience of Polish immigrants at the time), I dove into ClaudeAI and Perplexity headfirst. At first, it was great! Compared to a sans-AI Google search, where I spent most of my time parsing through articles in search of little nuggets of helpful information, both programs gave outputs that were thorough yet concise and well organized. I had quite a few questions, so this helped keep all of the information together.

As is the case with most anything, I hit a few roadblocks. At one point, I prompted the programs as such: "Polish immigration history in the early 20th century." The results I got were the opposite of what I was looking for, both programs outputted information on the history of immigration into Poland. So, I refined my search, and the programs gave me what I was looking for. AI prompting takes a lot of creativity, imagination, and adaptation. Every AI software is coded to give outputs based on human input, and those outputs can change drastically from prompt to prompt.

This is easiest if prompts are first framed as questions. After that, they can be structured as commands (e.g., "Tell me more about the Polish holiday Tłusty Czwartek and how it evolved into modern-day Mardi Gras celebrations). This definitely takes some practice! Fortunately, both programs suggested prompts based on the history of inputs I had already given. Not only did this help me learn how the programs "liked" to be prompted, but it was also perfect for my investigation because I didn't have much of a knowledge base to start with.

My investigation took me places I never imagined! I learned about the history of traditional Polish holidays like Wigilia Dinner, Feast of Greenery, St. Andrew’s Night, the Feats of Three Kings, and Wet Monday. I found traditional recipes for kielbasa, stuffed cabbage, and even pierogis. I gained more insight into why my family settled where they did; it turns out that Chicago was a hub for Polish-American immigrants after WWI. And I uncovered some of the reasons why they might have chosen to shelter their children and grandchildren from their heritage.

I also learned a few tips and tricks for using AI along the way:

Be specific!

Large language models use your inputs like math. They use statistics to find the output you are most likely looking for and then condense it. So, specificity is key! The more information you can give it to start, the better results you get in the end.

Be curious!

Leaning into our natural human curiosity and creativity is a great way to explore AI. Especially if, like me, you're going into it a little bit blind.

Supplement it with what you already know.

AI isn't the answer to all of our problems or the best partner for every creative pursuit. I was most successful when I supplemented AI with what I already knew, either from the stories my dad told or from what I learned in my research thus far.

Most importantly, get creative!

Key differences between humans and AI

Development and Adaptability: Human intelligence is dynamic and grows through experiences, allowing for adaptation, reasoning, and expanding abilities. AI, however, cannot learn or grow independently and relies solely on pre-programmed data and algorithms.

Memory: Human memory is a dynamic, malleable process of construction and reconstruction, forming interconnected networks that evolve. AI memory is static, with a finite amount of discrete storage that does not adapt or transform unless reprogrammed.

Error and Meaning-Making: Human memory is prone to errors and transformation, reflecting an "effort after meaning," prioritizing generalization and understanding over exact recall. AI, in contrast, recalls information exactly and does not prioritize meaning or context.

Learning Process: Humans can integrate new information into pre-existing knowledge networks through experience, making it easily accessible later. AI requires new data to be inputted in algorithmic formats and stored discretely without this integrated learning process.

Creativity and Reasoning: Humans have the ability to think creatively and solve problems adaptively. AI operates strictly within predefined rules, making it incapable of independent creativity or adaptive reasoning.

Physical, Sensory, and Social Context: Human intelligence is deeply shaped by physical, sensory, and social experiences, including culture and language. AI, on the other hand, operates through rigid algorithms and lacks sensory or social grounding.

Listen along to our story of Artificial Intelligence!

We used Google Notebook LM to create this podcast. We gave it documents from the semester that reflected what we've learned about cognition, AI, and descriptions of our AI "experiments." We hope you like the result as much as we do!

Meet the authors:

Hello! My name is Morgan Reed, and I'll be graduating this spring with a BA in Psychology and a minor in Art History from Pacific University. I'm super excited to continue finding new partnerships with AI!

Ayukîi! My name is First Moon Venecia, and I am a senior graduating this spring with a BA in Psychology. I cannot wait to take the knowledge I have gained into my different community spaces.

Breanna (and Gnarpy)

I am a Junior at Pacific University and am majoring in Psychology. Gnarpy is an incredible scholar with a focus on Venusian history and a great moral support.

Hi, my name is Maggie Rossi! I am currently a junior majoring in psychology at Pacific University! With open arms and an open mind, I cannot wait to see where life takes me!

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