[Essay] AI from an Art Major's Perspective
Through the Examination of Different AI Systems in How They Can Relate to Specific Fields of Studies, I Was Able to Better Understand the Value in Utilizing Them in My Own Work in the Science and Art World
As I first began looking at articles about artificial intelligence, I was surprised by how little I knew. I understood the general concept of what an AI is, and that over recent years, scientists have developed systems that can accomplish very complex tasks. However, I was not aware of the extent of these developments. Our first personal research on AI was to find an AI system that could connect to one of the animals we learned about, who had been trained to understand human commands for more complex matters, like Akeakamai the dolphin who could comprehend, respond to, and communicate with her trainers who used sign language, or Clever Hans, who was able to use facial and body cues to determine answers to the math questions they were being asked. Learning about these animals, their abilities to match with human intelligence was no surprise to me. Being alive and having emotions is what I believe makes it a lot easier for creatures to communicate with humans, who have the most advanced communication systems. What surprised me was that there were Artificial Intelligence systems, able to basically replicate the same actions these animals were able to perform. For me, the huge difference is that technology cannot implicitly recognize emotion, or many of the cues that humans displayed, which the animals could pick up on in order to complete their task. This was a revelation in how far science has come in developing these systems.
With a gained general understanding of the current world in AI, I was skeptical that my research would consist of artificial intelligence systems that could be of use in my career. Currently, I am on the path towards becoming a Herpetologist. Research sciences, being in a field, and hands-on interaction with reptiles are my main goals for a job. Art, specifically illustration, is a major component of my current life, and the future work I will be conducting as a Herpetologist. Before beginning my research, I felt pretty dead set in the mindset that no matter what I found about AI’s in relation to my field, it would not be something I would consider myself using in my work. Although at this point I had a more open perspective on artificial intelligence and the use of technology in my life, I still had a lot of qualms against it, partially out of fear for AI.
I began my research as best as anyone who knows virtually nothing about a particular subject- with Google. I was looking specifically for scientific journals or documents about AI systems that had function in research sciences, and zoology. One of the systems I was particularly inclined towards is the AlphaFold project at DeepMind, which is able to use genomic data to predict protein structures. This AI is able to estimate the distance between amino acids, as well as the angles of their bonds, which allows them to give an accurate projection of what the protein structure looks like. Being able to identify these structures allows scientists to develop better treatments and have more accuracy when diagnosing illnesses in both animals and humans. This task is typically complex and time-consuming and with the help of this AI, scientists can utilize data much more efficiently. I began to realize how implementing these systems in scientific research can be a more effective way at collecting and analyzing data.
Looking into AI that has a presence in the illustration world, there has been a lot of recent development in creating systems that grasp the concept of human creativity. OpenAI has released an AI called DALL-E, which uses text cues to create images. The main purpose of these AI's is to get as close to human thinking as possible. To have the ability to be creative from the prompt of a couple of words. For example, the words, "armchair in the shape of an avocado" will prompt the following image:
Through this research I came to better understand the value of Artificial Intelligence not just in the other’s fields, but in my own as well. However, there is one fear that still persists for me, even now. We see daily mishaps in technology with our phones, computers, televisions, etc… Technology can only work as well as the human programmed it to work. These are complex systems, the making of which is intricate and precise. One small mistake could lead to a malfunctioning whole system, and with so many components to create AI, the probabilities are high. While this technology has come very far, there are still always going to be errors to our trials, and while I am more open to the use of Artificial Intelligence in my career field, I feel that it is safe to also always remain skeptical. I remember being taught in Eighth Grade by my math teacher that calculators could not always be depended on because their programming consists of set rules, which certain problems do not adhere to. Graphing calculators now are much more advanced and do not necessarily continue to have this problem, however, it is a thought I have continued to carry with me throughout my research. AI is great and helpful, but there will always be limitations.
At the beginning of this semester I became much more open and confident in the realm of online school. Utilizing technology has slowly become more of a factor in my life, but it progressed much more rapidly this year due to my gained understanding of AI. I still maintain that AI can be dangerous and must be used with caution, but I better understand the value of accessing a resource like that. I hope that I continue to move forward in school with a more open mindset to all new pieces of information, as it is clear to me now, you never know what could be useful until you understand it fully.
Sources:
Carey, Teresa. “New AI Can Draw Pictures, Inching Closer to Humanlike Smarts.” Freethink, 7 July 2021, https://www.freethink.com/technology/new-ai-can-draw
Alan Turing Institute , The. “The AI Revolution in Scientific Research - Royal Society.” Royalsociety.org, Royal Society, Apr. 2017, https://royalsociety.org/-/media/policy/projects/ai-and-society/AI-revolution-in-science.pdf.
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