October 19, 2024 at 9:00 AM EST Amherst Exempted Village Schools made the correct decision to inform district parents and students on the benefits and drawbacks of artificial intelligence. Amherst technology innovation specialist Amanda Sears hosted a session Oct. 16 on “AI Uncovered: A Community Introduction” at Marion L. Steele High School. The informational session raised awareness about what AI is, how it’s used in everyday life and possible risks. Artificial intelligence, better known as AI, is a field of science concerned with building computers and machines that can act, learn and reason in such a way that normally would require human intelligence or that involves data where scale exceeds what people can analyze. Students are using AI in schools, and more parents and community members also should be aware of the technology. Sears believes AI is so important a topic that more people need to understand the knowledge behind AI, and what it can do. The Amherst Exempted Village Schools Board of Education created a good AI use policy for students which states they can use the technology for research assistance, data analysis, language translation, writing assistance and accessibility, of course, with permission of a teacher. One of the main reasons for the district policy is to encourage students and teachers to utilize AI technology in a useful and proper manner. The goal of Amherst Schools is educate students on how to effectively use AI. That’s because AI is not going away. So, the more students understand it, the better they can utilize it. And, parents are no exception. Sears pointed out that true AI still is in its early stages and the technology more commonly used by people is called machine learning. While AI technology can perform tasks on its own, machine learning involves a computer gathering information and patterns without being explicitly programmed. Sears touched on ethical considerations with AI in health care, government and crime, as well as biases and trending news on the technology. While there is good with AI, unfortunately, the criminals, the crooks and the unscrupulous have found ways to deceive and rip off unsuspected people. So, it’s crucial for people to recognize how AI can affect their lives, whether it’s a scam phone call using clips from a loved one’s voice or circulating an AI-generated photo to deceive. Amherst Schools is educating people on the good and bad of AI. Artificial intelligence should be understandable and bring knowledge to all rather than a select few. Amherst Schools deserves credit because officials there saw the need to educate its community about AI. Sears believes it’s important to articulate the technology to the community. Using language that the audience understands helps to communicate information about the technology and also can help young students as they grow with the technology. There are many benefits of AI. Artificial intelligence can assist with automated workflows and processes, or it can work independently and autonomously from a human team. For example, AI even can help automate aspects of cybersecurity by continuously monitoring and analyzing network traffic. Similarly, a smart factory may have dozens of different kinds of AI in use, including robots using computer vision to navigate a factory floor or to inspect products for defects, create digital twins, and perhaps, use real-time analytics to measure efficiency and output. Authorities believe AI can reduce human error. Also, artificial intelligence can eliminate manual errors in data processing, analytics, assembly in manufacturing and other operations through automation and algorithms that follow the same processes every time. Another benefit of AI is that it can be used to perform repetitive tasks, freeing employees to work on other issues or problems. Artificial intelligence has been used to verify documents, transcribe phone calls and answer some customer questions like giving out open and closing hours for businesses and nonprofits, or if a golf course is closed because of bad weather. In some instances, AI can process more information more quickly than a human, finding patterns and discovering relationships in data that a human may miss. Also, AI is not limited by time of day. The technology may need maintenance, but it will not need to take a lunch or restroom break. Scientists believe AI could analyze infinite data quickly which could lead to accelerated breakthroughs in research and development. Amherst Schools is on point by helping people to learn more about artificial intelligence. Share this: