“I think AI right now is a lot of hype,” said Javier Garcia, an assistant professor in the Department of Media & Communication Arts (MCA) at the City College of New York (CCNY).
OpenAI released a demo of ChatGPT in November 2022, and it quickly went viral. Professor Garcia, who teaches in the Advertising & Public Relations program, described this era of AI as a Pandora’s box that has been opened and created a new world that people will need to learn how to navigate.
While many have taken it up to organize their work, maybe looking things up and writing papers, even though professors tell them not to use it for that, there is a downside. “There’s a lot of excitement to be had, but there’s a lot of anxiety to be had as well,” Professor Garcia said.
AI is a source of anxiety for many because of the fear that it will take over jobs and make it harder to get jobs. This has especially become a big concern in creative fields, including advertising, because of AI’s ability to make creative images, graphics, and other content.
“Being creative almost means nothing when AI can do what you do and more. Essentially taking over our jobs,” said Sarah Gil, a communications student who dreams of being a photojournalist.
“I think capturing a moment words can’t describe is beautiful, and I would like to learn and train my eye into capturing THE photo that the world is able to see,” she said. Gil worries that her dream career will be fully taken over by AI in the future. “AI will be able to create a photo in seconds, taking away from the years people have spent to become a photographer,” she said.
But some students believe that AI can not fully take over creativity because it cannot completely replicate human emotions and ideas. “I think AI could never replace human creativity,” an advertising and public relations major, Eliu Aponte, said. ”There are some wacky ideas out there, and some really smart ones.” He wants to work in the film industry and believes that AI is just”a tool to be used.” He doesn’t think that AI can think outside of the box and create ideas that will resonate with other people. Aponte also believes that “AI is unavoidable,” so people should learn how to use AI to make certain tasks easier rather than trying to compete with it.
Dayanara Castro, a communications major at CCNY, agrees. “I think the best thing is to learn how to use it instead of ignoring it,” she said. Castro thinks that in today’s job market, companies are looking for people who understand AI. “Avoiding it can be a disadvantage,” she said.
In a world in which technology is constantly evolving, Castro thinks people should attempt to adapt to these changes, or they will be stunted and fall behind. She doesn’t feel threatened by AI. She said it “doesn’t have personal experiences, emotions, culture, or opinions the way people do.”
While some students do not fear AI taking over their future careers, others worry about AI interfering with their own creativity. “While AI is convenient, I also feel that it limits people’s original abilities and the skills we should develop on our own,” said Mariko Sakoda, an international student from Japan studying advertising and public relations. Sakoda worries people will not be able to fully build skills to work in certain creative industries because they rely on AI shortcuts.
Professor Garcia seems to share the same concern for his students. He said students are “Outsourcing their critical thinking, their hard work, their human experience to technology that can theoretically replace them.” He thinks people may take the easy way out and use AI shortcuts. The professor hopes that people can use new technology like AI for the better. But he thinks people “have a tendency to overrely on things that cut corners and otherwise cut the human out of the process.”
Series: Education
