1st Place, Informative Feature
2023-24, Division 1, News Writing
By Ava Nightingale
The Eagle’s Eye
Eisenhower HS
NW-12. Informative Feature
The entry should be a single story, which should inform or instruct. Judges will not consider sidebars, infographics or other elements packaged with the story. Facts are obtained from research, interviews and observations.
THE BIG BOOM
From eavesdropping Alexas to algorithm calculated pop up ads and traffic navigation systems, Artificial Intelligence (AI) works behind the scenes to influence everyday lives.
“Everybody was scared of the calculator and the Internet when kids got it. But now it (AI) is just part of our daily routine. It’s just changed and it’s new,” district tech coach Trapper Hallam said.
In face of AI’s overhwelming presence, controversy sparks debate. With the creation of generative chat AI, such as ChatGPT, the question of whether this technology is a blessing or curse is undecided.
“The big boom—what everyone is talking about right now about AI—is the chat. Before, you could ask the computer questions and it will give you whatever set answers that it gave you; but now, it can take all that knowledge that it has and can have a flowy conversation with you,” Hallam said.
This new adaptation turns heads across the world, especially students’.
“It (researching AI in AP Seminar) made me really think about how powerful AI is because four or five months ago I was just thinking, ‘this is just a new thing,’” senior Luke Bernardi said. “And now it’s getting bigger every day.”
BENEFITS AND BACKLASH
ChatGPT is efficient. From writing emails to essays, it responds to any prompt in a few seconds. However, when deciding to use AI, Hallam urges others to follow the 80/20 percent rule, meaning after AI writes the prompt it’s important to revise and personalize.
“And now you’re writing at a higher level that’s quicker, faster and you got to someplace that you might not have gotten if you struggled to write the initial paper,” Hallam said.
What is a consequence of not adhering to the 80/20 percent rule? Over-reliance. Sending out AI written emails or essays without proofreading first could communicate the wrong message or misinformation.
“It helps them, but it puts a lot of work on the computer and not on the student, which can make them lazy,” Bernardi said.
Accessibility is another upside. AI could benefit billions with disabilities. For instance, Microsoft’s Seeing AI app offers a talking camera for the blind. Likewise, Google’s Project Euphonia created a speech to text process, aiding those with speech disabilities.
“So students who struggle with reading and writing and communicating back and forth, whatever it happens to be, will facilitate that and allow them to be on a level and not have that be a hurdle for them,” Hallam said.
BIDEN STEPS IN
AI, however, has obstacles to overcome. From false information and data privacy issues to copyright infringements, concerns are piling up.
“Artificial intelligence is an extremely powerful tool,” Bosch senior data privacy specialist Nicole Nightingale said. “However, it brings possible misuses and harms by nefarious individuals.”
14 out of 51 states passed data privacy laws; Massachusetts and Washington are the only two with pending laws regulating AI. President Biden issued an Executive Order on Safe, Secure, and Trustworthy Development and Use of Artificial Intelligence on Oct. 30, 2023.
“With this Executive Order, the President directs the most sweeping actions ever taken to protect Americans from the potential risks of AI systems,” according to whitehouse.gov. Most people sign away their rights without reading privacy notices or terms of use first, according to Nightingale. ChatGPT is no different. Every time a user inputs personal information into its system, whether that be their job title, location, or more it stores that data.
“It [ChatGPT] stores all that information that was personally identifiable information,” Nightingale said. “It was information that could be used directly or indirectly by itself or linked with other information to identify you as a person and it’s now living in that algorithm.”
If a student uses ChatGPT to write a college essay, the algorithm would know their background, personal information and more. Likewise, filling out a job application with AI assistance provides it more specific details, such as the user’s location and age. While these may sound like small prices to pay, ChatGPT is free to use or share that personal data however it wishes and users privacy can be compromised.
BANS AND BACKLASH
Using AI facial recognition for surveillance purposes, Rite Aid also indefinitely stored identifiable personal data into its algorithm. It backfired. Dozens of people were wrongly accused and detained due to AI’s low quality images.
“The Federal Trade Commission filed a complaint against Rite Aid involving their use of artificial intelligence, which really highlights the harms to the individual and the best practices that should have been put in place,” Nightingale said.
This incident calls attention to how unreliable AI can be. Oftentimes, the output of information a user receives may be copyrighted, since its tools rely on data from the Internet. Yet, that hasn’t stopped students from cheating with ChatGPT.
“I’ve been in classes where the teacher has had to address cheating with ChatGPT. In Mrs. [Amy] Kirchoff’s class, if you use it to write any of your papers or anything you get a zero,” senior Noah Sheridan said.
Despite the frenzy ChatGPT causes in classrooms, it’s yet to be banned from schoolissued laptops. On the other hand, less disruptive sites like Netflix and Spotify were blocked by the district. While the benefits and backlash of AI are caught in a game of tug-a-war, it’s clear AI made its impact.
“Just like your smartphone or your Apple Watch, you don’t remember a time without it. And AI brings you a lot of positives, but at the same time it is evolving at such an exponential rate,” Nightingale said. “The bounds are really limitless for good use and bad use so only time will tell.”
NW-12. Informative Feature
The entry should be a single story, which should inform or instruct. Judges will not consider sidebars, infographics or other elements packaged with the story. Facts are obtained from research, interviews and observations.
Judging Criteria
- Leads capture attention, arouses curiosity
- Topic relevant to interests and/or welfare of school or students
- Thorough investigation through research and interviews
- Combines basics of good news and feature writing
- Organized with smooth transitions
- Sentences, paragraphs of varied length; written clearly, concisely and vividly
- Uses proper diction and grammar
- Balanced and fair presentation
- Story relies on information from primary sources gathered/interviewed directly by the journalist(s); general Internet sources and secondary media reports are used sparingly