By: Gavin Schweiger, Follow South Jersey Community Journalist
New Jersey is not shy with its relationship with artificial intelligence (AI).
In March, the NJ AI Hub opened for AI startups to collaborate. The Department of Agriculture and Office of Innovation are using AI to help children who rely on state benefits for food. Big data companies like Nebius and DataOne are building more data centers in the state to cover the demand, like one in Vineland.
The state government’s investments in AI gave it an “advanced” rating for AI readiness from Code for America.
For critics, AI is not only here to stay, but it’s digging its heels in deeper by the day. Not long ago either, the Trump administration revealed its plan for expanding and innovating on AI.
I’m neither a full supporter nor full critic of AI. There are great and practical uses for it, but there are drawbacks that make me hesitate to use it on a consistent basis.
I recognize as a writer and photographer, it can be an important tool to make my workflow more efficient for research, organization and ideas.
A disclaimer that my AI usage is within ethical reason. I don’t publish anything written or generated by AI, and I don’t use it as my only source for research. When I do use AI, I always fact check it and its sources as thoroughly as I can.
What I do use it for is efficiency.
It saves a ton of time and energy on mundane tasks and processes. It’s a game changer for people like journalists who could use AI transcriptions to help find the right quotes and beats for a story.
It’s also a necessity for most industries to keep up with AI technologies and how to use them. Just as someone who would, say, use a typewriter in 2019 would miss a lot of potential, so is someone who outright refuses to use AI in 2025.
AI does have its problems, however.
Firstly, there’s a notable environmental and financial impact. Data centers are a particular problem.
When you give an AI program like ChatGPT a prompt, the actual calculations and computation that gives you a result comes from data centers, buildings filled with computers that are meant to operate AI programs, among other things.
Data centers use a lot of electricity and a lot of water. They can use up to 5 million gallons per day of water, according to the Environmental and Energy Study Institute, and their energy use is already hitting consumer electricity bills in the state.
There’s debate in the state government to deal with some of these issues, but it’s the nature of a data center to consume a lot of energy and water.
Other than the energy burden, there’s already a burden on jobs. AI has already made its way into just about any profession. Writing emails, editing videos, even coming up with ideas is at least partially automated.
There are still a lot of jobs that require human intelligence that computers won’t take over yet. Writers, human resources people and teachers may be safe for now.
Jobs that don’t require emotional intelligence or human instincts are not as solid. And even more scary, are that entry-level jobs that used to be accessible to young people coming out of college, they might be on their way out as well.
Would you rather: Pay an inexperienced but wide-eyed employee a salary and benefits with no true guarantee of success, or put in the work to train a computer model that will do the job for much cheaper and no breaks?
For jobs that a computer can do like data entry, most customer service interactions or assistant positions, the answer is clear. AI can be cheaper and better than a person in these instances.
If I were the head of a major company and had plenty of opportunities to create decent work for a lot cheaper, I would. And that’s the issue. It’s already harder for people to get jobs today than it has been before, according to Business Insider. I can’t imagine it will get much better.
AI today is only the product of a few years of rapid growth and is already the source of a lot of stress and controversy. There’s no predicting what it will look like tomorrow, let alone a few years down the road, but likely the technology will only get better.
AI is problematic but necessary. While we can’t fix environmental and job security issues overnight, we can be more intentional about using it.
We can have ethical boundaries we don’t cross. For example, not using an AI written cover letter directly. Instead, using it as a launching point to write one for ourselves, in our own voice.
It is always better to think through ideas and problems first, however, as I still want to keep my critical thinking skills sharp.
We can use AI as it’s meant to be used, as a tool. We can take advantage of it being here to stay, but we can also write our own emails and essays to keep humanity and pride in our work, while minimizing our own environmental and job impact on the world.
- WATCH: What’s Good in South Jersey? American Training Center Graduation Celebration
- WATCH: What’s Good in South Jersey? Cinco De Mayo Celebration
- WATCH: What’s Good in South Jersey? Salem Donates House For Full Renovation
Follow South Jersey provides local journalism which highlights our diverse communities; fosters transparency through robust, localized, and vital reporting that holds leaders and institutions accountable; addresses critical information needs; supports people in navigating civic life; and equips people with the information necessary to partake in effective community engagement. If there is a story or event you think we should cover, please send your tips to news@followsouthjersey.com with “NEWS” in the subject line.
