It’s hard to say that artificial intelligence snuck up on us. People have been yammering about it for years. Most people I know have either generated A.I. content or mindlessly shared it on social media. It doesn’t matter if you don’t know what it is, it’s already in your house. And it’s the topic of today’s column.
Perhaps it’s the almost real looking memes we saw that show our least favorite politician in a demeaning pose or among unsavory company. Doesn’t it seem like everyone’s formal letters and web content is a little slicker than before? Isn’t it amazing how all these never-before-seen historical photos and rare birds are suddenly appearing in the year 2025?
It’s all A.I.
Fake.
I left my 21-year career as a community college instructor just a few days ago. Plagiarism and academic integrity were always a concern, but in the last two years, A.I. swamped my boat. Software designed to catch A.I. and plagiarism was overwhelmed to the point of becoming ineffectual.
And I can’t really blame kids for using A.I. to assist with their papers. They shouldn’t, and they know that, but it’s such a tempting way to save hours of work. Adults do it all the time. It’s like swearing. You shouldn’t, but you do.
But this is much more important. The ease and ubiquity of A.I. right now is a bigger problem than cheating on English papers or speech outlines. If we give away our ability to think and process information, we won’t be useful. And if we’re not useful, we will be miserable. It doesn’t take much research to see how that’s already happening throughout our culture.
Read “The importance of ‘the importance of sleep’” in the Tuesday, May 20, 2025 edition of the Minnesota Star Tribune.
Aaron J. Brown is a columnist and member of the editorial board for the Minnesota Star Tribune. His new book about Hibbing Mayor Victor Power and his momentous fight against the world’s largest corporation will be out soon.
