Women’s Club of Barnesville Learns about AI
The Women’s Club of Barnesville invited Barnesville High School Librarian, Lisa Gallagher, to speak at its January meeting about artificial intelligence, or AI. The club’s education and library committee’s co-chair, Angie Pack, stated, “Being a librarian and working for the school, we felt that Lisa would be an excellent speaker to help us understand AI better.”
Gallagher began her presentation by stating that many people already use AI without realizing it, giving examples of smartphones, email, social media, and streaming services. “If it learns, predicts, or automates — it’s probably powered by AI,” said Gallagher.
Gallagher continued to share the strengths and weaknesses of AI. On the positive side, AI can quickly scan data, organize and summarize, and provide better services with correct prompting. However, Gallagher stated, “Confident language does not equal truth.” She continued, “AI can be wrong, outdated, and biased based on the data it is using. Also, unlike humans, AI cannot feel or understand local values or traditions.”
Finally, Gallagher discussed AI and its impact on misinformation. Points made by Gallagher included: AI helps choose what appears in your social media feed, AI can create and manipulate images, videos, and voices, and AI can use outdated and biased information. Gallagher expressed, “We don’t need to fear AI, but to understand it.”
As a group, club members completed an interactive activity evaluating this Facebook example with the questions Gallagher provided. Before sharing or acting, one should stop, think, and ask these questions:
- Who posted this?
- Is a real source named?
- What emotions is it trying to trigger?
- Is it asking you to share or take action quickly?
Those present determined that the post was not real. Gallagher surprised them when she informed the group that, in fact, she created the example using ChatGPT.
The Women’s Club of Barnesville meets each month at the Library Annex. This club reports to the Ohio & General Federation of Women’s Clubs, and its mission, as a nonprofit organization, is to make a difference through various activities and projects. Call 740-619-0015 or message the organization on its Facebook page for more information.
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