The occasion explored prospects and potential pitfalls of artificial intelligence.
PORTLAND, Maine — The University of Southern Maine hosted its first-ever Artificial Intelligence and Digital Science Conference, bringing collectively educators, business leaders, and curious minds to discover the transformative energy and potential risks of artificial intelligence.
“Individuals have a variety of issues,” Ashanthi Maxworth, an assistant professor in electrical engineering at USM and the conference’s organizer, mentioned Friday. “College students are writing papers utilizing AI with out studying something. Ought to we simply rent ChatGPT fairly than hiring a human? Issues like that.”
Maxworth, who’s optimistic about AI’s potential, defined why she permits her college students to make use of the know-how in her lessons.
“It is a device that you should use if you go into the workforce,” she defined. “We can’t keep away from them utilizing it. So, use it, get a deal with on it.”
Nonetheless, she warned it is best to belief the human mind greater than artificial intelligence.
“There’s a distinction between intelligence and knowledge,” she added. “AI is educated, however AI doesn’t have the knowledge—solely people do.”
Attendees shared a wide range of views, reflecting the broader societal debate over how AI needs to be built-in into schooling, business, and on a regular basis life.
Tom Lanigra works for a Westbrook firm that builds customized automated meeting machines. Lanigra mentioned his firm is exploring using AI and attended to the conference hoping to realize perception.
“[I’m] hoping to study the place the know-how goes, what potential advantages there are for business—particularly for us,” Lanigra mentioned. “Can it assist us leverage that information base that we’ve got 30 years of?”
Maxworth famous that a part of the problem with AI is addressing its limitations. She cautioned that AI is “nonetheless studying,” similar to her college students. She urged members to assume critically about how a lot to depend on the know-how, particularly as its functions broaden into delicate areas like schooling and the workforce.