Technology
A bot for every occasion Navigating the tension between AI power and human warmth Cory Hare
IT WAS ABOUT A YEAR AGO THAT I CAVED. Up until then, I’d avoided any use of AI. Then I heard about Perplexity and was curious. I found the online portal and typed into the “ask anything” window a question that summarized the aim of a personal research project I’d been working on for two months. I hit “submit.” Four seconds later I was staring at a succinct paragraph that summarized what I’d learned on my own, supplemented by a series of tangential entries—all footnoted. Following these breadcrumbs, I saw that the machine had probed every website and discussion group that had taken me weeks to mine using traditional web searching. In that moment, I was dumbfounded by the might of AI-powered research, and in the months that followed, I became increasingly comfortable with this technology. Recently, I was applying the final human touches to a Perplexity-aided document when I thought of a new element to include. My immediate next thought was, “I need to see what Perplexity thinks.” That reaction made me pause. “Am I losing the ability to think and decide for myself?” I wondered. This phenomenon is known as cognitive atrophy, which has long been one of the concerns associated with AI use. Ever since I experi- enced this introspective moment, I’ve been extra mindful to use my preferred AI tool as a resource while retaining my human agency. Still, I can’t imagine going back to the old way of researching information.
Managing Editor, ATA Magazine
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THE ALBERTA TEACHERS’ ASSOCIATION
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