My husband was an early user of AI assistants, like OpenAI鈥檚 ChatGPT and Google鈥檚 Gemini, when they became popular a few years ago.
When I was pregnant last year, he asked ChatGPT for help in finding the perfect baby name, even at one point entering the prompt: 鈥淐ome up with names for a half-Jewish, half-Italian baby.鈥� Our favorite response: Shlomo Giuseppe. It made us laugh, but that is not the name we chose for our son.
Unlike my husband, I have mostly stayed away from AI assistants. Working in journalism as the deputy editor of the flagship daily public affairs show, 鈥淪ound of Ideas,鈥� and as an adjunct professor of journalism at Baldwin Wallace University, I am wary of the impact of AI on the workforce and learning development.
Journalism as an industry has been shedding jobs for decades as it competes with major tech companies for ad buys and views. I read about , using AI to write articles, and it feels like yet another storm this field will have to weather.
Anecdotally, I have seen increased use in my class in the last few years. Some students have left their AI prompts on the homework assignments they turn in. One student admitted to its use when I discovered his article included sources didn鈥檛 exist in real life.
So I was surprised the other day when I agreed to use Google Gemini to settle a dispute with my husband. A short synopsis: His car wouldn鈥檛 start one cold night. It was 11 p.m. and I didn鈥檛 want to wake our 10-month-old son 鈥� again, not named Shlomo Guiseppe 鈥� so we could get in the car and go get my husband. There were other options, like rideshare and roadside assistance. He was annoyed at my refusal, and I felt hurt that he didn鈥檛 understand my resistance. Luckily, his friend was available to jump his car and he got home safely.
The next day, after struggling to get past the conflict, he fed our scenario into Google Gemini for some insights. Honestly, I felt relief when he read out Gemini鈥檚 interpretation of the events, which gave weight to both sides of the argument. It felt like seeing a couple鈥檚 therapist, but in real time, without the bill or the wait.
Unlike a therapist, Gemini told us who "won" the argument. Turns out, though I had logical points on my side, I was only 40% 鈥渞ight鈥� compared to my husband鈥檚 60% 鈥渞ight.鈥� According to Gemini, I could have approached his dilemma with more empathy, rather than first refusing to come to his aid. Even though I technically lost the argument, this third-party input helped us empathize with each other鈥檚 points, and allowed us to move past the emotional stage of the dispute.
All this week, in our week-long, newsroom-wide reporting project, "精东影业 Explores: Artificial Intelligence," we鈥檝e been hearing about how AI is impacting people鈥檚 lives in Northeast Ohio. We've heard stories about AI's use in the arts, journalism, housing, policing, mental health and relationships. The latter was a segment we aired yesterday on the 鈥淪ound of Ideas鈥� that obviously hit close to home.
If you鈥檙e like me, you may be experiencing some of the benefits of AI and still be wary of its effect on learning, the environment, the workforce and, really, every facet of our lives. You may want to process what you鈥檙e hearing and watching this week from our series. You may want to share personal anecdotes with other community members to better understand this moment we鈥檙e all living through.
If you do, please join us on Tuesday at 6 p.m. at our home, the Idea Center in Playhouse Square, for our next 鈥淪ound of Ideas Community Tour.鈥� We鈥檒l hear lessons learned from our AI series and dive deeper into AI鈥檚 impact on our region with expert guests in front of a live audience. During the show, we鈥檒l rely heavily on audience questions and experiences to help guide the conversation. It鈥檚 free to attend, and .
And we have another "Community Tour" event covering an issue that's been discussed since before AI was ever born: The future of Burke Lakefront Airport.
We will gather inside the terminal to discuss whether the airport should be closed, clearing the lakefront land for other uses. Cleveland Mayor Justin Bibb, who is pushing for Burke to close, will be there. So will a pilot who says not so fast. And a member of Cleveland City Council, which is holding public hearings on the issue, will be part of the panel, too.
Join us at Burke on Wednesday, March 4. and so is parking.
For all that AI has to offer, nothing beats human to human connection.
"The Cut" is featured in 精东影业's weekly newsletter, The Frequency Week in Review. To get The Frequency Week in Review, The Daily Frequency or any of our newsletters, sign up on鈥�精东影业's newsletter subscription page.
