Cyber security specialist, DeAnna Stephens, is urging young people to exercise caution when using Artificial Intelligence (AI), as becoming too reliant on this application can rob them of the ability to think independently.
There has been a rapid increase in the use of AI globally. AI applications are being used by businesses, for daily chores, and in schools by educators and students. It offers convenience for persons and provides valuable information in a small amount of time. Youths are becoming increasingly dependent on the technology.
“When we depend on AI too much, it comes with a cost. So, you now start losing your ability to think. You can’t understand. So if someone asks you a question and the first thing you do is you go to Chat GPT to find the answer, you now have stopped using your brain. You’re not able to think. And what you do not use, you will eventually loose,” Stephens admonished during the recent hosting of Yah’s Way Youth Day in Manchester.
She advised young people to use the application as a tool, to aid in their academic tasks, instead of using it to do the task for them. This may be done by placing an original thought into the search bar, gleaning information provided by the app, and using it to write or work out their task, with their own words.
“So we want to use AI as a support. We do not want it to replace our minds.”
Stephens also addressed the practice of using chatbots as guides for psychological problems. She said that a number of children have been using AI to voice their worries, fears, and issues. After doing so, they have been harmed. While it is programmed by humans, it cannot feel emotions, therefore it cannot advise humans from a place of love, in the same way that a trusted adult or counsellor would. She also warned youths that AI has the ability to hallucinate, which then becomes a source of harm for them, as the information that they pour into AI is then leveraged against them.
_”AI cannot mimic care. It cannot truly care for you. It does not love you. It does not even like you. It has no feelings. It has no conscience. It has no soul. It has no wisdom. It has no responsibility to protect you. It is not your friend. It is not your therapist. It can never substitute for your mother. It can never give you a real hug. It will never keep you warm at night. It will never make you feel less lonely or less insecure. In fact what it is doing is gathering information on you,” the cyber security specialist cautioned.
Stephens also addressed the spiritual implication of turning to chatbots for advice, pointing out that it is important to guard the heart, as it will significantly affect other sectors of life.
“Technology not only shapes what we do, it is what we attend to, who we trust and who we follow…so if you are always being fed certain voices or values or energy,your heart is going to start to lead you in that direction,” she said.
Stephens is therefore urging young people to turn to trusted adults, such as teachers or counselors, if they believe that they cannot go to their parents to voice their issues. “Use the people around you. Do not put your trust into AI. Go to your pastor, go to a trusted adult, go to your peers, go to your teacher, go to your counsellor. Those are people who love you and want the best for you.”