Shopping, school and social media are just a few crucial things that have been impacted by Chat GPT. It has grown to be well known and relied upon since it was released in 2022. 

Chat GPT is something that many people have a strong positive or negative feeling about. Some feel that it has gotten out of hand and needs to be controlled, while others like that it is evolving quickly.

People have expressed their concerns about how reliant many students have become on this app. People have been quick to start relying on Chat GPT without thinking about the consequences. Grand View University Lecturer of English Breanna Kreimeyer and GVU first year student Aliya Brandt represent two major groups affected by the usage of Chat GPT in the classroom.

“I think that it’s probably here to stay although I do have some concerns with how everything is free right now,” Kreimeyer said. “All the tech companies have their own AI that they have launched and it’s all been very free and available. I have worries that as people become increasingly reliant on it and colleges start teaching it, then they will start putting it behind a paywall and making it so people have to have a subscription.”

Another way Artificial Intelligence (AI) and Chat GPT has become well known is through social media.

Snapchat, Instagram and Twitter all have their own form of AI now. This makes it difficult to avoid AI.

Some think this update is innovative and some think it is invading.

“I thought that it was funny at first just because it’s your AI on Snapchat. From what I know, Snapchat is kind of creepy.” Brandt said. “I know I have accidentally sent a picture to the Snapchat AI before and it will say I can’t see it. You can customize it (your personal AI) on Snapchat and make it look a certain way and it just feels very out of touch.”

One thing that Chat GPT has affected is education. All students in college have had a talk from their professor on the first day of class about the consequences of cheating with Chat GPT.

Some educators have even added their expectations for Chat GPT into their syllabi.

People have mixed emotions with how AI fits into education, “I think for teachers it can be a similarly useful tool when used ethically, but I think it also opens up a lot of problems with plagiarism and devaluing education in general,” Kreimeyer said.

Teachers are not the only ones with mixed feelings on AI. Some students are concerned with it devaluing their degrees. Students are acknowledging the harm it could do as well as the good.

“It completely allows people in college to cheat their way through. Whether people want to admit it or not people are getting these degrees because they are having Chat GPT assist them,” Brandt said.

AI is a very new concept and it is consistently evolving. The public is learning more about it constantly which gives people opportunities to change their mind on how it makes them feel.

Some people have grown to like the advantages of AI and some have grown to see the risks.

“It has changed overtime. I would say it’s gotten more complicated,” Kreimeyer said. “I was initially very negative and very skeptical about how it could impact society as a whole and college students specifically. Particularly because I’m a writing teacher and it’s sort of impact on already struggling literacy rates.” 

In addition to school and social media, AI has also started to affect shopping.

This is another example of not really being able to choose if you interact with AI or not.

“When you call Casey’s, they sometimes will automate you to an AI person to get your order. It feels like very unattached to reality,” Brandt said. “ I know my mom hates it and my grandparents because you aren’t even talking to an actual person. You aren’t getting to talk to a real person if you have any questions. It’s really hard to get through to someone.”

People on social media have started to look into where the future of AI is going and some find it frightening.

“My favorite YouTuber, Shane Dawson, actually made a whole video on this and he talked about how crazy it’s getting. In the span of a decade or two it’s going to get so bad that they can’t even stop it,” Brandt said.

Overall there is no clear answer on AI and what it will grow to become. Some people find that exciting and others find it dangerous.