COLUMBUS, Ohio — Artificial intelligence is all around us now from the vacuum you may able to set and forget in your living room to that voice-activated device from Amazon in your kitchen.
But now it's getting more advanced, pulling more information together than ever before.
Programs are putting AI power in the palm of your hand, like ChatGPT. You can tell it to write you a joke, an email, or an essay.
"I think since ChatGPT came out I think the interest in this has really mushroomed,” said Ness Shroff, Ohio Eminent Scholar in Networking and Communications at the Ohio State University.
Shroff is an artificial intelligence expert at Ohio State.
"Like any technology it could have tremendous benefits in the sense that it could correct your punctuation, it could make you potentially a better writer,” he said. "But of course, you know, it also poses tremendous problems.”
Problems concerning authenticity. Meaning, how do you know who is really writing that essay, that letter or that speech?
Just this week, Vanderbilt University issued an apology after it was discovered ChatGPT was used to write a community-wide letter addressing the recent shooting at Michigan State University.
Shroff said there are technologies being developed and some already in use to detect what's generated using artificial intelligence.
"As designers of AI as folks that work on it we sort of understand the power of AI,” he said.
He explained using AI for medical diagnoses and treatment options is in the realm of possibilities.
But, it could also be used to spread disinformation.
We asked: “does the benefit outweigh the risk?"
"I think so,” he said. “I mean I'm sort of a technologist I guess. so yeah in my opinion if you look at technology over the centuries right it has caused enormous harm and it has had enormous benefits.”
One area where we can expect to see AI used more often is in digital agriculture. Experts say it can help farmers know exactly where to use pesticides or exactly when the timing is right to harvest crops.