Understanding GenAI as a tool for acceleration rather than creativity, and defining what it means to be human.
- Isabella Perez
- Jun 18, 2024
- 3 min read
We could be inclined to say that generative AI is replacing human innovation, but it is amusing to see how this idea was immediately proved wrong in Wharton’s “hackathon”. As students created prompts and apps using GenAI, we were able to see how this topic involves more education and societal topics than anything and to see how it sparked a necessity to offer innovative solutions to tackle different social problems. These events serve as a point of connection where many AI innovators can meet with one another and bring with them evolution and creative thinking. Just like Kevin Li mentioned, it is amazing to see how AI and human creativity can work together to improve tax, health care, and education sectors, and as seen in the competition, create innovative projects like Mood Shaker, which offers users recommendations for cocktails according to their mood, or Small Talk Master, which help international students gain social skills, are perfect examples of that.
We can learn a lot about the winner of the prompt engineering part of the competition, Cindy, and her project Detective GPT which she built with her team. It is exciting because I had never heard of something like what Cindy and her team created, and interesting to realize that it is the very same reason why they created it. Detective GPT allows people to easily create interactive games like murder mysteries in very little time. It is distinctive because no one has yet explored creating dynamic narratives with the help of AI, and as this is inspiring, we can also learn a lot about what motivated her and her team to create this prompt. GenAI does not stop creativity or innovation if it is used in the right way, and in Cindy’s case, it was used to accelerate content creation, so that she and her team could focus on the creative part of the project and its goal. This portrays a good use of GenAI and opens the door to speaking about the importance of education when working with GenAI.
Secondly, but not less important, we have Kevin Li’s team project AiMI which won for the technical track side of the competition. What I like the most about his project is that it mocks the way many companies structure their job interviews, and can improve the interview skills of job applicants to improve their labor opportunities. It prepares people for the challenges that might present during an interview and offers both verbal and non-verbal feedback. I had never heard of an AI that could give non-verbal feedback, and this gets me encouraged to investigate more about the progress of AI.
Having read about these projects, it is clear that AI is an enormous force that is changing how we are used to doing things. It can serve to improve financial markets with the implementation of automation and create a positive impact in many other fields as with Detective GPT and AiMI. But as Cindy said, it is important to realize that we need to shape AI so that it can enhance our productivity rather than compromise our freedom. This takes me back to the door that opened in my analysis of Cindy’s prompt. Technological and AI literacy is unconditional if we want to learn how to navigate our current job markets or construct ideas to shape the world. AI should be aiding the flourishing of our societies rather than replacing people’s jobs and increasing control over their lives, and for this we need more people to get interested in how GenAI will certainly change our future, and how can we use it to our advantage to accelerate our projects for sustainable development.
Touching these topics, it is consoling to realize that being human means having emotions, ups, and downs, going from childhood to the uncertain waters of teenage to adulthood, and being marked by every single experience that we live along the way. To laugh, to learn from our mistakes, and to be able to work under pressure and be resilient during difficult times. To adapt to changes, and embrace life in all its richness and possibilities. That is an advantage that we have over AI that characterizes us and differentiates us from what AI can do.
Read more about Cindy's and Kevin's work
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