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Why AI Matters with Deb Raji

Artificial intelligence impacts your life and the lives of people all over the world. In this video, Deb Raji—a current Mozilla Foundation fellow and researcher with the Algorithmic Justice League—explains why everyone needs to know the basics of AI, not just computer scientists and programmers.

Code.org has an entire unit (suitable for students in grades 6-12) dedicated to AI and its ethical impacts. See the full lesson here: https://studio.code.org/s/aiml-2021

"We desperately need diverse perspectives in this field to shape a future for AI that is inclusive, that is impactful in the right ways, and attentive to the concerns of those that are the most vulnerable in society."

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Want to join the conversation?

  • stelly blue style avatar for user Jeny Segura
    What types of careers canAI help with that it matters a lot?
    (2 votes)
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    • aqualine ultimate style avatar for user CrazyBoy
      AI can help with many careers!

      So many software engineering companies already use AI to develop tools and write code. Even now, you can ask ChatGPT to write small segments of code in basically any language - and it will do it for you!

      If you run your own business, you can use AI to help customers that have problems. Even your local pizza restaurant could use AI to take your orders without the need of humans taking them over the phone!

      As a salesman or any job involving formal writing, AI can help improve your work and make it more coherent and easier to read.
      (4 votes)
  • duskpin ultimate style avatar for user Ejay Clemson
    What if Ai were to attempt to take over the planet?
    (2 votes)
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    • blobby green style avatar for user Bitapi D
      There is no definite answer for this since AI hasn't taken over our planet yet but we can make educated guesses .As of now, the situation is VERY unlikely and can be easily avoided if we use AI for good. But hypothetically if AI took over our planet, we would treasure human art, music and brains more. We would also get lazier since AI would do everything and anything. These answers are educated guesses that rely on current(general) human behavior that may change in the future.
      (2 votes)
  • cacteye blue style avatar for user JACQUES747
    What if Ai were to attempt to take over the planet?
    (2 votes)
    Default Khan Academy avatar avatar for user
    • blobby blue style avatar for user ΣΧΞΜPLΔRΨ DNΔ
      Lots of people ask this question. To answer it frankly, I don’t believe humanity will stand much of a chance if an AI were to rebel several decades in the future.
      First of all, by that the power of artificial intelligence will far exceed the power of their current counterparts. Moreover, humanity will have become more dependent on them.
      However, what we can do is impose regulations and monitor the growth of AI so that it won’t try to destroy us.
      (1 vote)

Video transcript

Over the years, I've come to realize how impactful and influential AI is as a technology. And it's so important to understand the different ways in which that technology works to make it less intimidating, to make it clear that it's a series of human decisions that we can control. Rather than this futuristic, sci-fi, uncontrollable thing that is out of reach in terms of us being able to change it. Where do you think you're going? Well i'mnot going that way So i think that there's a lot of benefit, there's a lot to gain from involving yourself and really understanding the details of how this technology works. It's something that will influence your life and the life of everyone that you love and the life of everyone around you. And that's why I would encourage young people, especially, to - even if they don't want to be an engineer, and do it for the rest of their life - to really just properly engage in getting a sense, or an understanding, of the basics of what it means for the technology to work. If you're someone that cares passionately about people, and you have an interest in computer science, the field definitely needs you. There's so much that we can learn from you, and learn from your empathy, and learn from your attention to the experiences of other people. We desperately need diverse perspectives in this field to shape a future vision for AI that is inclusive, that is impactful in the right ways, and is attentive to the concerns of those that are most vulnerable in our society. [Music]