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The AI uprising is upon us

January 31, 2025

This piece represents the opinion of the author .
Dila Cakir


Don your tinfoil hats, friends, and prepare for the AI overlords to tell you how to live your life. Y’know, I always figured the world would go out with a boom, but it’s kinda just a sad fizzle.

Okay, okay, I know the world isn’t ending, but I’m certainly still a bit sick and tired of all the AI overtaking my internet browsing experience. Even when I’m not using the internet, I run into it. When I go to Google something, the first thing that comes up is not any sort of human-written answer but an AI-generated answer compiled from across the internet. When I scroll through Instagram, I’m greeted with AI chatbots like … “The Rizzler” and “LeBroBot.” Yikes. Okay, fine, I’ll just do some retail therapy and search for antique items on Etsy and—oh! An AI search feature. On a craft-selling platform. Okay, fine, it’s the new normal. AI will never go away and for better or for worse, we’re stuck with it.

On my first day at Sophomore Bootcamp, I sat down in Kresge, ready to learn how to write my resume (which I already had), but I was still ready to learn tips and tricks to refine it. But then, my worst nightmare struck. The CXD (of whom I’m very thankful) suggested we use AI to refine our ideas and look for grammatical errors. I was flummoxed. I had done a few forays into the world of Generative AI and after long consideration, came upon the fact that I was not a large fan of the system or the dangers of using it. I feared that students had become reliant on it. The people at the CXD recommended that students run their resumes and cover letters through AI, which I disagree with.

When being hired, shouldn’t a person be assessed for who they are, rather than how well they can get an algorithm to edit and suggest ideas? If they’re not your ideas, is it even your resume or cover letter? Furthermore, Handshake, a LinkedIn alternative used by the CXD, has built-in AI that can rewrite your writing to make you sound either more inviting or smarter. I did it, and it totally wrecked any of my own personality in my writing. Furthermore, CXD suggested that you use AI to make your resume or cover letter more noticeable because some hiring managers use AI to comb through resumes to select candidates. I personally wouldn’t want to work for a company if they rely so much on AI at all. I believe in good honest human work and communication.

In today’s world, where climate change is an imminent threat to our forests and homes, using AI to this extent is unsustainable. According to a study from Yale Environment, “A.I. use is directly responsible for carbon emissions from non-renewable electricity and for the consumption of millions of gallons of fresh water.” As more and more professional institutions like Bowdoin promote the use of artificial intelligence, and as it’s ingrained into our society through Google and Apple, more and more electricity will be used, and therefore more and more greenhouse gases. Sitting in the Bootcamp lectures while Los Angeles burned was a surreal and dystopian experience. As climate change becomes more of a problem, we have a responsibility to be the stewards of our planet. Using excess energy through AI is irresponsible, yet it’s growing more prevalent in our daily lives.

In my classes, teachers include AI in their syllabi, logging what is and isn’t an acceptable use of AI. A quote from my syllabus as an acceptable use of AI is “idea development/generation, thesaurus/dictionary, grammatical guidance and title suggestion.” These are all things that we, as students and young adults, should be able to do ourselves and of our own thoughts. I’m not sure if this is a good example of using AI in a beneficial and helpful way, because if AI is creating the titles of our works, then the whole representation of our essays has now been tainted by it.

Recently, the Bowdoin College Library instagram account has been using AI-generated images in its posts. I love our library to death, but as an institution of learning and representative of thousands of works generated by humans over the years, the AI art is upsetting. It’s not art. It’s an algorithm that spits out thousands of images smashed together to create a horrifying image of a ton of different style polar bears. The library is doing this when they employ many artistically talented students and have a vast collection of photographs and art collected from across the years. Why, then, do we need all the AI photos? Our student body is deeply talented at photography, art, music and writing, so why do we need all this AI-generated content?

In our world now, where the humanities are slowly dying, it’s upsetting that even our campus is encouraging us to use and embrace AI. Learning and art should be done by people, not algorithms. The humanities are human. English, history and art should not be taught or aided by a computer when these are all distinctly human things. AI can’t even do math correctly, so we should also leave the computation to humans. Learning, loving and expressing your opinions and ideas is a distinctly human thing. Art is a human thing. However, despite this all, AI will never go away. So, though I deeply dislike it, I can never get rid of it. AI is here to stay, folks.

Grace Campbell is a member of the Class of 2027.

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