AI and AI

ByDavid

Well now I’m just being confusing on purpose.

This is about my old pal, Captain Al.

That’s Al, as in Alan, not AI as in Artificial Intelligence.

But it’s also about that, too.

Back in high school, Captain Al and I took different sections of the same chemistry class. His was in the morning, mine in the afternoon.

Imagine our surprise one afternoon when Mr. Patterson announced that he would read Al’s lab report out loud to our class.

He read every last word of Captain Al’s report.

From the introduction… “There’s a lady who’s sure…” all the way to “… and she’s buying a stairway to heaven” in the conclusion.

You see, Al didn’t believe that our chem teacher actually read our lab reports.

So this time, instead writing the assigned report, Al instead transcribed the lyrics to Led Zeppelin’s Stairway to Heaven, which no doubt he knew by heart. True story.

And thus, the teacher’s response.

Rock on, Captain Al!

There’s a lesson there. Maybe a few.

  • Looks like Mr. Patterson did read the reports.
  • When considering Stairway to Heaven, don’t focus so much on the lyrics
  • Al, you always were fearless.

But do these lessons have anything to do with AI (not that one… the other one)?

I think so.

Look, I’m using artificial intelligence in some of my work (like today’s image… thanks, DALL-E) and I’ve invited my marketing students to do the same.

As a tool. For help. To get things started. Like you would with Google and Wikipedia and the example your teacher shared and maybe even your friend, the marketing major, down the hall.

I’m a teacher and I want to help my students understand how to best use this amazing and rapidly evolving tool.

To become skillful with it. As if they already aren’t!

Will I be fooled by someone using AI to craft an entire report or assignment?

I’m pretty sure I already have been.

It’s up to me to make sure my students use AI to become smarter, not to avoid becoming smarter.

And it’s up to me to create assignments that bring out my students’ strengths and creativity.

Because as AI tells us (not that one… the other one), yes, there are two paths we can go on.

What do you think?

How are you handling artificial intelligence, at work and in life?

See you tomorrow!