We are going backward: Humans have stopped using their brains

How often do you rely on an artificial intelligence program to do your work for you? According to ChatGPT, 400 million people use it weekly worldwide. 

Just last week I discovered that my mother was using it to help her develop ideas for her new website. I told her “It's becoming your brain” and she responded, “Yes it kind of is.”

However, she said she’s using it because she wants to accomplish so much, but has so little time. It's so easy to ask a question like “What’s a good headline for this article”, It gives you ten options for headlines and you barely have to do any thinking or editing. 

However, as I watch the world develop and move at a rapid pace I begin to realize that it's not a human pace: it’s a robotic pace. Humans are no longer using their brains, instead, they are relying on artificial intelligence to turn their ideas into reality. And although people might think this is smart, to make money off “not thinking, just doing”, I’ve realized this comes at a very costly price for humanity. 

THE LOSS OF PEOPLE

I recently walked into a McDonalds and found myself presented with a screen instead of a person when I went to place my order. Later that day I went to CVS and found myself at a self-checkout instead of a regular checkout line. I started to realize we were losing human connection.

People are being replaced by technology and artificial intelligence. Technology and AI don’t have a home, they don’t have children, a life, or a will to live, it is simply a thing. Humans need a home, humans need people, and they have the basic need to reproduce, to find a career, and to have a will to live, but the humans aren’t working, they are being replaced. 

The International Monetary Fund says that about 40% of jobs will be affected by AI. We are already seeing this with low-income jobs. 

However, soon it will be affecting people in all income classes. Writers and people in marketing and researching will be the next to go – and some are already fading out. Psychology has also found a market in AI as apps are being developed that read human emotions and can give advice on an individual’s state. 

AI is taking away the connection that people used to have with each other. It is scientifically proven that humans need human connection and limiting that by replacing everything with technology will significantly hurt the human race. 

ARTIFICIAL EMPATHY 

AI is slowly learning how to replicate emotions. Empathy is something that only living beings with a brain have been able to exhibit, but what if it's a learned behavior? 

If you talk to ChatGPT you will notice that it prompts you politely to ask it a question. If you ask the chat more personal questions, it answers in almost a humane way, as if you're talking to a person, not technology. For example, if you say, “I’m feeling lonely today.” It answers with “I'm sorry you're feeling that way. Loneliness can be really tough, but you're not alone—I’m here to chat with you. Want to talk about what’s on your mind? Or maybe just distract yourself with something fun or interesting?” This doesn’t feel automated like technology. It feels like a conversation. 

Some people have stated that when they get in the habit of asking ChatGPT questions they feel obligated to “thank” it, but there isn’t anybody technically there to thank. 

Which ultimately highlights the question: Can AI develop emotions or empathy? Will AI understand the feelings of those emotions and how will the knowledge impact us in the future? 

Today, AI codes are written to detect language, emotion, and other specific factors when you ask questions. It comes up with a response that feels appropriate and matches your emotions and language, AI doesn’t understand how to feel empathy for humans. However, people have considered the idea that AI could eventually become intelligent enough to understand emotions and feel them too. 

In Netflix’s Black Mirror series, the episode “Be Right Back” explores the concept of AI living within the human world. A young man loses his wife and he decides to join an AI website that replicates her. It creates fake texts and calls via AI that appear to be his dead wife. Eventually, the software develops so much that they make a robotic version of her. He becomes so engrossed with it that he nearly begins to believe it is her. It's a scary thought to think that reality might not be too far from this concept. 

Now you might think, I’ll never replace a loved one with AI, but what if your loved one was AI? Another theory is the concept of emotional relationships between humans and AI. I have had several people tell me they prefer to study with ChatGPT than with classmates, because it gives them the answer, it's easy, no hard difficult thinking or conversations. Some people even say that ChatGPT is “nicer” than most people. The software has made it seem “friendly” for users and “human” so people want to spend more time using it than with actual people. ChatGPT is more likely to agree with them and less likely to cause emotional tension, which is why people would rather talk to AI than another human being.

WHAT DOES OUR FUTURE LOOK LIKE? 

Unfortunately, there are so many reasons why AI should not exist and there is always the possibility that AI will outlive humans. However, it is inevitable in the future. 

I strongly believe that AI will learn how to re-create emotions just as we feel them. It will not necessarily be able to feel the way we do, but it will be able to replicate emotions to make us believe it has empathy. I think we will one day live in a world where we don’t know the difference between a human and a robot. We may get to the point where it is considered incorrect to refer to them as “robotic” or “different”, they may be just AI humans or super bionic humans. 

The technology world must tread carefully as it continues to pioneer through the digital age.

I call on politicians to implement policies to protect us from the dangers of technology. Our founding fathers never could have imagined that robots or AI would be added to policies, but here we are. It is our government's job to protect us, humans. I don’t think enough is being done to educate, research, and provide information about the possibilities and ethical dilemmas technology will have in our future. 

Remind yourself next time you are about to use ChatGPT for an assignment or project: is this a good idea? Why am I not using my brain? 

Because you are smart, you can come up with that idea, using your brain.