When I was a kid, my parents decided computers were a fad. It was the 1980s, and computers were increasing in popularity. We used them at school, and I knew a couple of friends who had one. It seemed magical how you could type something on a screen and have it print onto paper. The floppy disks were fragile. A color screen was impressive compared to the green text on a black background. I guess I can see how my parents might’ve thought it was all a gimmick.

As soon as I could, I started learning everything I could about computers. My parents wouldn’t buy a real computer, but they bought me a children’s version. It had a built-in screen which displayed just a few lines of text. Still, I was able to write my high school papers on it and learn BASIC. When I was close to graduating, it malfunctioned. I couldn’t print out a 30+ page paper. I was able, however, to connect the computer to the TV and record my paper to VHS so my teacher could still get it in time. What a trooper that teacher was. I’m so thankful he was willing to take that VHS tape as my final project.

Then there was college, and we were exchanging smaller floppy disks with our professors. And then people started getting high-speed Internet everywhere, and suddenly we were submitting assignments online. Shortly after, some classes started being held online. Now there are whole online degree programs. These technologies are helping to equalize opportunities among traditionally underserved communities. They’re not perfect. We’re still trying to expand access to all rural areas and improve access for everyone.

And there’s misinformation, isolation, predators, bullying, privacy concerns, and many more complications and drawbacks to this technology boom. We’re heading into more murky territory, too, with the addition of large language models like ChatGPT, Gemini, and Claude, as well as the countless other apps available. This technology, commonly called AI or LLMs, makes work, school, and life easier for people who use it. And it’s making your life easier, too, even if you don’t personally use it. LLMs are used in many contexts in business, and it’s likely that when you shop, online or in-store, the systems you use have been created and/or maintained with the help of AI. Your doctors are using it to help write notes and reports. Your teachers and professors are using it to put together classes that students use AI to pass.

Yet AI/LLMs are facing a huge backlash. As new technology comes about, we react negatively toward it. Big surprise. Every new technological breakthrough faces the same issue. People don’t trust it, and they fear the impact it will have on the world. Don’t get me wrong, AI is full of mistakes and hallucinations, and it’s causing people to choose violence when they otherwise wouldn’t. AI is not a replacement for a human being. We need to police these LLMs and add guardrails to make them safe and reliable. As much as some people want to, there’s no putting the genie back in this bottle. Progress marches on, with us or without. We can’t unmake AI. And if we could, someone else would just re-invent it.

The environmental impact is huge. It can’t be discounted. But we choose to make excuses to waste electricity every day by leaving appliances on and plugged in, by leaving our computers on all the time, by leaving lights on, and by burning gasoline to get from one place to another. And on and on and on. But we’re working on those, you say? Yes, we are trying to integrate solar and wind power into the grid to make our addiction to technology less impactful. People are working on electric cars and hybrid cars, which have their own set of difficulties regarding environmental impact. We’re not trying to eliminate automobiles. We’re trying to lessen the impacts.

Like with cars and homes, we’re trying to improve AI and LLMs. They aren’t going anywhere and will only become more pervasive in all our lives. We have to figure out how to lessen the environmental impact. We have to train it to only provide correct answers. We need to keep them from sounding too human to keep people from feeling connected to a machine that throws information right back at you. We need to address the hallucinations and the code that turns an LLM into a killer.

Let’s not argue about a new technology. Let’s not judge others for using it. Let’s use it responsibly. Let’s add laws and industry guidelines. Let’s train it to do better.