Blog Post 4 – AI and Storytelling

Artificial Intelligence

With the topic of AI making headlines throughout media and universities, it was beneficial to further explore its implications as this week’s topic. I had tried using Chat GTP as a result of its recent popularity and stemming from personal interest but had not explored it much further than asking it questions, I did not think it would be able to answer. However, to my surprise it did. That being said, it is evident that we must be cautious when using Chat GTP because as it indicates on the website, some of its information can be inaccurate, biases, and it has limitations. Furthermore, relying on generative AI, such as Chat GTP, and using it incorrectly can hinder a student’s academic integrity and lead to plagiarism. More specifically, despite the accessibility of AI, I believe that there is a correct time and place to use the tool.  

I enjoyed the fact that we found a variety of AI tools to explore in week 8 because apart from Chat GTP I had never utilized any others. It was interesting to explore generative AI created for images and music. I particularly enjoyed playing around with DALL-E2, asking it to generate different forms of art mediums to discover if it had any limitations that I could identify right off the bat. Although I was impressed by all the different art it generated, I noticed that some of its results did not correspond to my requests. More specifically, they would generate images that contradicted my demand. For example, I asked DALL-E2 to generate me an image of a bathroom without a bath but all the images had bathtubs included within or were solely of bathtubs (I attached an image below of the results for a visual). Hence it is clear that the system has difficulties handling negations. 

I think it is beneficial for professors to shed light on AI tools and make students aware that AI can assist with learning but should not be used as a primary source of information. It is clear that technological advancement is giving rise to new instruments, but it is our responsibility to discern when and how we should deploy these tools. For example, I can see myself benefiting from AI when brainstorming, seeking quick answers, translating, or helping me generate ideas. However, I must ensure that I apply the tool properly within academic settings (such as including it as a reference/source when quoting information).

We have seen instruments of AI surpass the online sphere when observing the materialization of self-checkouts and electric vehicles, such as Tesla; hence, I would not be surprised to see AI be a dominant pillar of society in future years. However, despite the efficiency of these new technological advancements, when thinking about the future of AI, I am a little bit worried about the consequences it may have on jobs and the economy. More specifically, if artificial intelligence can replace many blue-collar jobs, the workforce may turn towards predominantly seeking people with complex and informed skill sets that the average person may not have. Furthermore, if AI progresses within the job sector, I would assume that employers will seek employees for positions that require strong social skills since AI has not yet refined this area. As a result, people who may not have access to high education or minimal interpersonal skills may face challenges in the workforce. 

For greater insight into how AI may affect future generations, I decided to pose the question on Chat GTP, and this is what it generated: 

Storytelling 

Analyzing storytelling and the promising techniques that create a meaningful story was interesting since storytelling is a relevant part of education. Storytelling is especially impactful when teaching a lesson or bringing attention to a topic. Moreover, the impact of a story tends to increase when it is based on personal experience. For example, a meaningful story that made me cautious of petting wild animals was when my grandma exposed the instance where she fed a duck and suffered a severe and long-lasting reaction from accidentally petting its feathers. This story was impactful because of the emotion and authenticity behind it, which stemmed from the fact that it was a memory of hers. When used effectively, storytelling is a good tool for learning because it can help people engage and internalize a topic based on an emotional response. 

To put the two modules for this week into practice, I decided to use Stable Diffusion to create a storyboard for a YouTube video on baking a pie crust. Immediately I noticed that this tool took longer to generate images than DALL-E2; however, the quality of the images was strong and representative of what I was searching for. Creating a video storyboard was interesting because it highlighted the different elements to consider when creating a video. When watching Youtube or movies, I do not necessarily consider the organization behind every scene. However, when deconstructing a portion of the steps to make an introductory baking video, I understood that not only are the actions presented in the video important, but the motion of the camera, the narration, and the closed captioning play a huge role in determining the end product.  

Sweet and Simple Pie Crust Recipe – Video Storyboard

Thank you for exploring my blog post!