AI: Some Exciting Possibilities

John Wykes, OMV

July 9, 2025

Over the last several weeks, I have written some articles that are rather critical of AI (Artificial Intelligence).  One could ask, “What is AI good for, anyway?”  The answer is, “Plenty!”

Here, then, are more positive views of AI – beyond the popcorn casserole, beyond the fake personas, and beyond the fake photos and videos.

Some intriguing possibilities for AI:

Information Retrieval: No doubt about it – AI is at its best when doing research.  Like the marvelous computer on the old Star Trek television series, AI needs only a single question to start its lightning-fast journey through many and varied sources to produce a cogent and cohesive answer.  In this regard, most current ordinary users of AI are familiar with Google and its ability to present information with either its traditional mode (listing a variety of matching sources) or its AI mode (which gathers info from these sources and presents a neatly-organized summary of its findings).  For the sake of complete transparency, there is also a reminder to users that “AI responses may include mistakes.”

Computer Programming: Back when I was taking Computer Programming for my Masters in Digital Media, I had to learn coding, and it drove me nuts.  Now, many years later, programming can be done by just about anyone.  Want to create your own app from scratch?  Tell AI what you want using ordinary everyday English and AI will do all the coding for you.  Your app is up and running without you having to write a single line of code.

Medical Diagnosis: All of us know of long-suffering souls who go from specialist to specialist in a desperate but vain attempt to alleviate mysterious pain.  In our compartmentalized medical world, specialists often can’t make out the forest from the trees and leave their patients feeling frustrated and even hopeless.  AI can digest the findings of these varied specialists and find commonalities that lead to a proper and pain-relieving diagnosis.

Shopping: In a recent article, writer Alexandra Samuel exclaimed that AI is her new shopping companion.  When planning for the purchase of a new car, Samuel saved herself hours of research by feeding ChatGPT lots of information about her particular needs and then asked it to summarize all the information into comprehensible comparison tables.  Concludes Samuel, “That’s how I figured out which of our top contenders had enough headroom to accommodate my 6-foot-1 son, enough cargo space to fit our dog crate, offered Airplay and USB charging, and most important, were available in red.” (see bibliography, “Samuel, Alexandra” page R2).

Robotics: You don’t have to search very far on YouTube to find truly hilarious videos of robots breaking things, falling over, or even attacking human workers.  In the world of AI, the complex calculations needed for truly interactive and helpful robots are like child’s play.  Thanks to AI, robots of the future will be both adaptive and reliable.

Protecting Underwater Pipelines and Cables: The dark depths of our oceans are populated by many pipelines and cables.  Because there is little to no light there, it becomes very difficult to detect when certain countries are engaging in suspicious and destructive activities.  NATO is now using AI to gather data from various sonar-related sources to better understand and combat efforts by hostile nations to sabotage or destroy valuable pipelines and cables.

Space Exploration: I have been a fan of space exploration ever since the days of Apollo.  Now there are plans to send people to Mars – no mean feat, especially when considering this would be more costly and more complicated than landing humans on the moon.  AI can consider variables such as weight, fuel, speed, gravity, inertia, and hundreds of other factors, synthesizing the information into multiple and do-able options for achieving this goal – even factoring in workarounds for various possible catastrophes along the way, such as sudden power loss, computer malfunctions, or a meteor strike.  Other modes of space exploration, such as space telescopes and unmanned satellites, can also benefit from AI.

Education: We’ve all heard of the many negatives of AI in the classroom.  For the last few years, students have been trying to pass off AI-created essays as their original work, and teachers have had to rely on AI-detection software to help them determine the essays’ authenticity (only for students to take their AI-created essays and pass them through AI-detection software before giving them to the teacher, in hopes that subtle changes to the essay will allow the fraudulent papers to pass through the teacher’s own AI-detection software undetected). As the academic world struggles with these issues (and teachers turn to good ol’ fashioned bluebooks for in-class essays), it is easy to wonder if there are any positives at all to using AI in the educational sphere.

Enter Ryan Downey, my good friend and professor of Psychology at Lewis and Clark Community College in Godfrey, IL.  When an AI Movers Team was formed at the school and volunteers were requested, Ryan signed on immediately.  The idea behind the team is to address AI policy and usage at Lewis and Clark.

According to Ryan, some of the positives of AI in education include personalization of content.  Teachers often struggle with how to present the exact same material to students from a variety of backgrounds and with a variety of aptitudes and talents.  AI can help personalize the study content so that it is adaptable to each student.  This, in turn, can be used to construct a personalized study plan.

Teachers can also use AI to make sure their programs are in consort with the vision and mission of the school. Works such as mission statements and official policy documents can be used by AI to help formulate programs that share the proper outlook and vision of the wider institution.

But what about student use of AI?  Ryan brings up the example of the good ol’ calculator.  Mathematics students are discouraged from relying on calculators for help when learning the fundamentals.  However, for more advanced work, calculators can often help “fill in the gaps” for those students who have mastered the fundamentals and are working on much more complicated problems.  In much the same way, AI can be used to elevate critical thinking and “fill in the gaps” for students who have mastered the fundamentals in a certain subject but have now moved on to more advanced studies.

Conclusion: The future is now.  AI is here to stay.  Like most tools, it can be used for good or evil.  Hopefully, thanks to insightful and responsible use of this new tool, AI will help educate our young people, ease our pain, gather important information, protect our resources in the ocean depths, and reach for the stars.

Bibliography

Boston, William. “How AI Can Protect Pipelines and Cables Deep in the Ocean.” The Wall Street Journal, February 27, 2025; R2.

Jie, Yang. “The Rundown on Building an AI Supercomputer in the U.S.” The Wall Street Journal, April 19-20, 2025; B4.

Lewis & Clark Community College. “Artificial Intelligence Guidance Policy.” December 2, 2024.

Mims, Christopher. “Humanoid Robots Finally Get Real Jobs.” The Wall Street Journal, February 27, 2025; R6.

Peppard, Joe. “Why Most Companies Shouldn’t Have an AI Strategy.” The Wall Street Journal, March 17, 2025; R1 and R4.

Rosenblatt, Tom. “AI Helped Heal My Chronic Pain.” The Wall Street Journal, May 14, 2025; A17.

Samuel, Alexandra. “Meet My Favorite Shopping Companion Ever:  AI.” The Wall Street Journal, May 22, 2025; R1 and R2.