From Pope’s Jacket to Napalm Recipes: How Worrying Is AI’s Rapid Growth?
Grade Level: High School
Objective:
- Students will be able to identify the potential dangers of artificial intelligence (AI) if it is deployed wrongly.
- Students will be able to discuss the ethical implications of AI.
- Students will be able to create a plan for how to ensure that AI is used for good.
Materials:
- The article “From Pope’s Jacket to Napalm Recipes: How Worrying Is AI’s Rapid Growth?” from The Guardian
- The video from 60 minutes.
The Guardian. Dan Milmo and Alex Hern. Google boss says issue keeps him up at night, while thousands have urged six-month pause on creation of ‘giant’ AIs.
Sundar Pichai told the CBS programme 60 Minutes this month that AI could be “very harmful” if deployed wrongly, and was developing fast. “So does that keep me up at night? Absolutely,” he said. He is not the only AI insider to voice concerns. Last week, Elon Musk said he had fallen out with the Google co-founder Larry Page because Page was “not taking AI safety seriously enough”. Musk told Fox News that Page wanted “digital superintelligence, basically a digital god, if you will, as soon as possible”.
Pichai should know. Google has launched Bard, a chatbot to rival the ChatGPT phenomenon, and its parent, Alphabet, owns the world-leading DeepMind, a UK-based AI company. Bard is currently not available in Norway, but I’m sure it will be soon. I have already tested it and it has added some questions for me here.
Lesson plan article
- Begin by asking students if they have heard of artificial intelligence (AI). If they have, ask them to share what they know about it. If they haven’t, provide a brief explanation of what AI is.
- Distribute copies of the article “From Pope’s Jacket to Napalm Recipes: How Worrying Is AI’s Rapid Growth?” from The Guardian.
- Have students read the article independently.
- After reading, ask students to summarize the main points of the article in their own words.
- Discuss as a class what the potential risks of AI are and how its rapid growth could be harmful if not properly controlled.
- Have students write a short essay on their thoughts about AI and its potential risks.
Lesson plan video:
Pichai believes that AI has the potential to solve some of the world’s biggest problems, such as climate change and disease. However, he also acknowledges that AI could be used for harm, such as creating autonomous weapons. Pichai believes that it is important to develop AI in a responsible way, and that we need to have a global conversation about the ethical implications of AI.
Watch the video above and answer the following questions:
- What are some of the potential benefits of AI?
- What are some of the potential dangers of AI?
- How can we ensure that AI is used for good?
- What are some of the ethical challenges of developing and using AI?
- What role do you think governments should play in regulating AI?
Find the video with the transcript here:
Essay Topics:
- Discuss the potential risks of artificial intelligence and how its rapid growth could be harmful if not properly controlled.
- Write an essay on your thoughts about AI and its potential risks.