There is a lot of animosity towards AI and the future. There is a lot of unknown when it comes to its potential and what it is going to mean for jobs, creativity, and critical thinking. When it just came out I didn’t know anything about it. It just felt like one day everyone was talking about it, so I was exposed to it much later. I started exploring it in little ways by asking it to help me create creative names for our craft programs in our library. At the time I didn’t know anything about how to query to get the results I wanted but I liked that it gave me inspiration to then form my own title by mixing them together or changing them a bit to make titles that I liked better.
As I’ve gone through the MLIS program, I have had the opportunity to explore using AI more. I think there are definitely a lot of concerns over the technology that are valid, but as it is still in its early days I think there is a lot of growth that can happen and a lot of potential that it could be very useful. If used correctly…
As I read the article, “Four Reasons to be Optimistic About AI’s Energy Usage”, I felt a bit more hopeful in the future of AI, especially when it comes to the environmental impact that it can have. We all know that technology isn’t going anywhere. It has become too embedded in our every day lives for that and there are going to be ways to make things more efficient. I liked the idea of the small AI models that would make the cooling more energy efficient and have them run through people’s personal devices, as that is where most people access their technology from would be the most efficient.
Technology moves fast and it’s not always where it needs to be before it starts being widely used, which is why I think it is good to still be cautious about using it. I do think it has a lot of potential and that it is important as information professionals to start learning more about it to be able to help with the hiccups that library users can run into so that we are able to provide information about it, especially when it comes to using it as an information source.
Heaven, W. D., (20 May, 2025). Four reasons to be optimistic about AI’s energy use. MIT Technology Review. https://www.technologyreview.com/2025/05/20/1116337/ai-energy-use-optimism/
Mind Matters, (18 December, 2022). Why we should not trust chatbots as sources of information. https://mindmatters.ai/2022/12/why-we-should-not-trust-chatbots-as-sources-of-information/
Hi Kelli,
I really appreciate you bringing an optimistic outlook to AI usage. I am definitely guilty of getting stuck in the cycle of overwhelm and negative assumptions when it comes to AI– so I’m glad to see someone point out some hope for this technology!