Artificial intelligence (AI) has increasingly become part of everyday life over the past decade. It is used for everything from personalising social media feeds to powering medical breakthroughs. But as big tech firms and governments vie to be at the forefront of AI's development, critics have expressed caution over its potential misuse, ethical complexities and environmental impact.
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Artificial Intelligence, or AI, is a branch of computer science that allows machines to learn, process data, and perform tasks that typically require human intelligence — such as understanding language, recognizing images, or solving problems.
Although computers don’t think or feel like humans, AI systems are designed to mimic human behavior by analyzing large amounts of data and identifying patterns to make decisions or predictions.
AI is used in many everyday technologies you might already know or use:
Generative AI refers to tools that create new content—text, images, music, or videos—that look like they were made by humans.
These tools are trained on massive datasets, including online articles, books, and photos.
But these creations often raise ethical and copyright concerns, especially in music and art.
While AI brings innovation, it also raises serious concerns:
The IMF estimates AI could impact 40% of jobs worldwide, with many worried about rising unemployment and income inequality.
AI can reflect human biases—such as racism or sexism—found in the data it’s trained on. Some AI tools have made harmful or false claims, leading to public backlash.
Examples:
Artists and writers, including Billie Eilish, Nicki Minaj, and Julianne Moore, have raised concerns over AI copying their work without consent.
They’ve signed open letters urging tech companies to stop using their creations to train AI systems.
Running powerful AI systems requires massive energy and water:
Governments are starting to introduce AI rules and safety guidelines:
Some countries are also banning AI for illegal content, like deepfake pornography or child abuse images.
OpenAI prohibits the practice of training a new AI model by repeatedly querying a larger, pre-trained model, a technique commonly referred to as distillation, according to their terms of use. And the company suspects DeepSeek may have tried something similar, which could be a breach of its terms.
Students at Taranaki's largest tertiary education provider are stunned it is threatened with closure. As the government unwinds Te Pūkenga, the Western Institute of Technology at Taranaki - known as WITT - has been given a year to shape-up or face merger or even closure.
