HUMAN INTELLIGENCE
Navigating the AI Revolution:
REFLECTIONS ON YEAR ONE
S
By Hunt Lyman
hortly before Christmas, I embarked on a familiar journey through Middleburg’s residential area, accompanied by a chorus of children singing holiday songs and Christmas carols. This annual tradition offers me a moment to reflect on the growth of the children and the transformations of the past year. Last year, amidst the post-caroling festivities of hot chocolate and cookies, I introduced my colleague, Peyton Tochterman, to an emerging technology capable of generating human-like responses.
Hunt Lyman
We’re both writing instructors at Hill School, and I marveled as my phone swiftly produced an essay on the Revolutionary War, a narrative about kayaking the Shenandoah River, and even a sonnet about hamburgers. This experience was shocking, and made us wonder what this meant for teaching writing in the future. The realm of Artificial Intelligence has indeed stirred the global landscape over the last year. News outlets are brimming with stories about AI’s capabilities, its ethical dilemmas, and even the organizational conflicts at companies like OpenAI and Google. ChatGPT, once an obscure name, has now become a ubiquitous term. Institutions from the U.S. government to small schools like Hill are grappling with balancing safety, integrity, and the integration of this novel technology into our future. Personally, navigating the new AI world has been a whirlwind. I have many concerns, including the opaque nature of AI algorithms, the potential for increased manipulation on social media, the influence on future elections, and the existential fear of AI attaining self-sustenance and making unpredictable, independent decisions. Paradoxically, these fears do not diminish my enjoyment in using AI to enhance teaching materials, summarize meetings, aid in brainstorming, or even to compose music and poetry. While I am worried about AI’s long-term effects on humanity, I find value in these current applications. As a teacher and administrator, I’ve discovered one unexpected benefit of AI: it has sparked interesting discussions with students about the appropriate use of this technology. AI’s capability to write proficiently is undeniable. Yet, I emphasize to my students the importance of developing their own thoughts and ideas, which writing traditionally helps me to track and understand. These conversations have helped students understand my goals to help them grow and have also prompted me to explore methods of assessing their understanding beyond writing, thereby enriching my own teaching practice. As we stand at the crossroads of AI integration in education, it’s imperative to strike a balance. Embracing AI’s potential to enhance learning while maintaining a focus on cultivating critical thinking and original expression in students is the way forward. The journey with AI in education is just beginning, and I’m eager to see where it takes us, particularly in how it shapes the way we teach, learn, and think. Hunt Lyman is the Academic Dean at The Hill School in Middleburg.
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Geraldine Carroll
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Country ZEST & Style | Winter 2024
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