SPRINGFIELD, Ill. (IRN) — An Illinois professor says the evolution of artificial intelligence, or AI depends on our ability to balance the pros and cons of the technology.

David Gunkel, professor of communications at Northern Illinois University in DeKalb, said artificial intelligence is not a new phenomenon, as some form of AI has been around since the 1950s.

“At that point in time, the goal was to emulate various aspects of human intelligence behavior in a machine,” said Gunkel. 

As the technology expands, regulation is sure to follow. In 2020, Illinois adopted the Artificial Intelligence Video Interview Act, which establishes parameters for employer use of AI during the hiring process.

Gunkel sees AI eventually costing some people their jobs, like those who write legal briefs, copywriting or even the visual arts.

“We can already see evidence of this as we have a number of occupations which are really being challenged by these large language models,” said Gunkel. 

Gunkel said colleges and universities need to take steps to ensure students aren’t just leaving their writing assignments to their computer. 

“Right now there is a huge concern in higher education, not just at NIU but across the world, about the large language models like ChatGPT and Google Bard can generate credible responses to questions that we prompt the algorithm with,” he said. 

Currently there is legislation in the Illinois Senate that would create the Generative AI and Natural Language Processing Task Force. The task force would consist of 20 members and would hold public meetings in Chicago, Springfield, Metro East, Quad Cities and in southern Illinois.

By KEVIB BESSLER for the Illinois Radio Network