This article originally appeared on Willistonian.org.
Questions over the impacts of artificial intelligence have continued to swirl since the release of ChatGPT several years ago, and one Williston student recently won an award for an essay he wrote on the subject.
Oscar Cui, a Williston senior from Shanghai, China, pursued his interest in philosophy when he competed in the Cambridge Re:think Essay Competition, a writing contest offered by Cambridge University. Contestants are invited to choose from a series of prompts based on their own interests.
This year, the competition received more than 4,200 essay submissions from more than 50 countries, according to the competition’s website. Of those essays, 350 received honorable mentions, while only 33 won awards. Cui’s essay won silver medal distinction, one of only 10 essays to be recognized with such an award.
Cui chose to respond to the question “How will AI change our understanding of beauty?” Driving his essay was the claim that AI will “entrench unrealistic expectations of human physical beauty, resulting in heightened pressure on vulnerable individuals.” Oscar mostly relied on philosophical principles to defend this claim.
While Cui has been interested in philosophy for a while, he says he was inspired to write the essay after taking a Williston philosophy class.
“I was inspired by Mr. Johnson’s philosophy class,” Cui, who took the class during his junior year, said. “I was interested in philosophy, so I continued to investigate it after taking the class.”
Cui used some of the concepts he learned from the class while writing the essay, including how to synthesize information with his own beliefs.
“I actually used some of the things I learned from philosophy, like how to research things online and incorporate it with my personal understanding,” Cui explained.
Cui also used the theories of several philosophers he studied in the class when forming his argument.
“I used German philosopher Martin Heidegger’s theories,” Cui said. “He’s a very [complex] philosopher.”
Cui told The Willistonian that his essay is rooted in the idea that society must come to terms with the impacts of Artificial Intelligence, which he believes are difficult to avoid.
“The shifting to AI is inevitable,” Cui said. “So there has to be an attitude shift towards AI.”
While the development of AI poses some unique challenges, Cui draws comparisons to other technologies that have emerged throughout history.
“For example, when photography was first invented, people often criticized it,” Cui said. “Because they used to [rely on] realistic paintings, and with photography it’s an exact copy of the landscape, so people wondered whether it should be considered art.”
Cui believes there will be a similar reckoning as AI becomes an increasingly common part of our lives.
“It’s the same with AI,” Cui said. “Does AI create something that should be considered art? I think there will be a shift toward that.”
In his essay, Cui also argues that AI could negatively affect society’s understanding of beauty.
“The things that AI created are often too perfect, so when people are exposed to this sort of work for a long time, will they expect art to be flawless, and [people] to be extremely beautiful?” Cui posed. “It could also hurt some people, because if your standard is so high and you are often criticizing people based on AI generated material, that could have a huge social impact.”
Since the release AI text-to-image programs like ChatGPT in 2022, many have worried that artists would be hurt by the ease with which AI users can now generate images. Oscar, on the other hand, believes art will be able to survive this threat.
“AI has already affected many industries, but art is unique,” Cui told The Willistonian. “Because the definition of beautiful art is hard to identify.”
After winning silver for his essay Oscar was invited to a special dinner with other award winners, which he was unable to attend. Despite this, he has still been appreciative of the recognition he received for the essay.
“I was invited to a private dinner at Cambridge. They invited 15 different Nobel Prize winners from different subjects, and they’re all giving speeches,” he said. “Unfortunately, I wasn’t able to go, because my visa expired, but I still won a $100 cash prize, and you can see my name on the website.”
Since submitting his essay, Cui has continued to pursue his interest in philosophy on campus by creating a club dedicated to the subject.
“I believe learning from other peoples’ thinking will benefit you, and make you a better person overall,” Cui said. “I think people should be more balanced, and that’s why I created the philosophy club.”
Cui says philosophy tends to get a bad rap among students, which he hopes to change with his club.
“Everyone views philosophy as a really hard subject,” Cui said. “But its actually not. It’s just people gathering their everyday questions, and then trying to find a pattern from it. That’s something everyone should do.”