As artificial intelligence (AI) continues to evolve and insert its way into everyday life, San José State's campus community has much to say concerning its implementation.
The university has made efforts to incorporate AI as a part of the college learning experience, even including a master’s program in AI, according to an SJSU webpage.
While Dyon Capote, a graduate student in teaching, uses AI for educational purposes, he also utilizes it as a form of entertainment.
“AI helps me with autocorrect, spell checking and makes some leisurely activities such as gaming more enjoyable,” Capote said.
AI has passed the benchmark of human ability in various tasks, including reading comprehension, language understanding and image recognition, according to a Nov. 6, 2023, article from TIME. The rate at which AI surpasses humans in these tasks is increasing, according to the same source.
“While AI has helped make robots or tech that serve humanity more efficiently, it shouldn’t be a way of life,” Capote said. “Too much reliance on technology can be bad.”
A study found that 52% of Americans polled nationwide are more concerned than excited about AI, according to a Nov. 21, 2023, article from Pew Research Center.
SJSU President Cynthia Teniente-Matson released a video in March using her AI avatar as a way to communicate with students, leaving many students disappointed, according to a March 27 article from the Spartan Daily.
Stanford University researchers found that some AI language models continue to perpetuate racial stereotypes with some even dating back to the pre-civil rights era, according to a Sept. 3, 2024 article from the university.
Wendy Lee, an associate professor for the computer science department, specializes in AI and machine learning, according to an SJSU webpage. She compared AI to a knife in regards to being useful, but equally dangerous if misused.
“Just like any tool, especially powerful ones like knives, can make things really easy, like chopping onions, but at the same time can also be dangerous if it’s not used appropriately,” Lee said. “I see AI exactly the same; a very powerful tool. If used appropriately, we can do things we cannot do before.”
Artificial intelligence is already being used in the healthcare industry as some algorithms have been engineered to focus research on cancer screening and identification, having a 94% accuracy when determining the prognosis of certain cancers, according to a June 22, 2020, article from Forbes magazine.
Comparing that to human accuracy, only 20% of prognoses were accurate across 365 different prognoses for hospice care patients according to a webpage from the National Library of Medicine.
On a personal level, Lee has found AI to be useful in her research and has valued its implementation in the STEM field.
“I definitely have benefited a lot from AI, especially in my research,” Lee said. “My research involves using AI to detect real signals from noise in DNA sequencing data. DNA sequencing has been applied to many applications, including cancer diagnostics, so in that sense, I think AI is very hopeful in really advancing research.”
Despite a fear of AI taking human jobs in healthcare, doctors are expected to have a 4% employment increase between 2023 and 2033, according to a Feb. 9 article from Forbes magazine.
Fourth-year biology student Khangerel Ganzorig currently works in the medical field as an emergency medical technician (EMT).
“I feel like as an EMT, I don’t think AI is a direct threat to my job security right now because for my future, I (still) want to be someone in the medical field and I feel like those things are not ready to be replaced by AI yet,” Ganzorig said. “I don’t think people would want an AI doctor for themselves, so it’s not a direct concern.”
Regarding environmental effects, AI has been known to require an intensive amount of electricity to power the hardware for the models and water to cool them off, which could strain municipal water supplies and disrupt local ecosystems according to a Jan. 17 article from MIT News.
Sophia Howell, a first-year environmental studies student, commends the university for trying to find ethical ways to incorporate AI into education.
In addition to the master’s program, the university also released a statement regarding its vision for AI on campus, noting its desire to work with companies such as IBM and Adobe and help students use AI ethically, according to a webpage from the university.
“I’m happy that SJSU is at least giving it a shot, because if they weren’t, it would be ignorant of them to say they are going to completely ban it,” Howell said.
Last month, the university announced access to ChatGPT Edu, which can be used with a school account to help students with coursework while remaining academically honest, according to an SJSU webpage.
The university recently introduced its first ever AI librarian, Sharesly Rodriguez, who pilots the integration and development of AI technology in a library according to a Feb. 11 article from SJSU News Center.
“I like that, because for students who are willing to give it a shot, I think it would be very beneficial to them,” Howell said. Otherwise, there would be plenty of students who will continue to use the AI as they see fit, but I think it’s good that SJSU is trying (and) doing what they can.”
