ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE

As someone who has used artificial intelligence a lot, I will honestly say that it has helped me through a lot. Too bad that it comes at a cost.

I feel like I have lost the ability to think for myself. I now doubt every bit of my intelligence, if there is even any left.

The first time I had ever used AI was my junior year of high school. I had been holding off using it. I knew what it would end up doing to me. I knew I would lose my creativity, my drive, all of it. Thinking back, I do wish I had stayed away from it. I wouldn't feel so dumb now.

I do feel like the way the school system has evolved made it so that getting a good grade was more important than actually learning the information. Before this "shift" in the education system, I took my time with assignments. I never felt like my workload was too much and I was actually learning.

Junior year is when the real stress started. The workload that always felt like an appropriate amount on top of my after school athletics, now felt like the school year was going to drain me completely by the first quarter. I held off as long as I could. I didn't want "This is so hard" to be my excuse, but the material didn't feel learnable anymore. It didn't matter to teachers if we learned, it only mattered if the work was complete.

After the first time I used it, it became routine. Now I use AI for things that I could honestly figure out on my own. I don't give myself the time to work through problems. I think that is because now it takes me longer to solve simpler problems. I don't even give myself the chance to. It's like I've given myself up to AI. At least I know now that it has to change.

Now, I only use AI to further my own education. The fact that there are too many teachers who only read off a slide makes it easier to turn to AI. My issue was that I was turning to AI for answers instead of using it to learn.

Now, I am finding it easier to learn on my own. Mastering topics that focus on my major so that I am sure to create a career for myself in the future. When I changed the way I used AI, I noticed my brain working more. Thinking of things I can do instead of staying so content with how I am now.

Something that could be seen as unfortunate is the fact that i have a pure interest for coding. The way the world is going, there is a lot of talk about jobs involving computers getting more and more scarce. Still, I have a good feeling that good things can come of doing what you enjoy, so I'll stick to it.

I have started learning Java. Every new thing that I learn gives me this feeling of excitement for what the future may hold. I can't wait to learn all the coding languages. One day I may even form my own coding language. As of right now, I'm not sure where I would like to take this career, but I'm sure I would like to do something creative. I get excited to think about the things I could create all on my own without any use of AI.

One thing to be proud of is that I have noticed that I am using AI significantly less. I can now clearly see a future where I don't use it at all, and I can confidently rely on my own intelligence. I hope that future comes soon.

- Sapphire