Artificial intelligence, blessing or curse?

JALANDHAR: While some called it a blessing, others termed it as wolf in sheep’s clothing. This is how the students from various schools expressed their viewpoints on ‘Artificial Intelligence’ during The Tribune Inter-school debate 2018 that was organised by The Tribune at Innocent Hearts School in Jalandhar.

Participants with teachers during The Tribune Inter-school debate 2018 held at Jalandhar on Wednesday. Photo: Sarabjit Singh

Aakanksha N Bhardwaj

Tribune News Service

Jalandhar, September 5

While some called it a blessing, others termed it as wolf in sheep’s clothing. This is how the students from various schools expressed their viewpoints on ‘Artificial Intelligence’ during The Tribune Inter-school debate 2018 that was organised by The Tribune at Innocent Hearts School in Jalandhar.

Around 22 students from 11 schools participated in the event and spoke against as well as in favour of the burning issue. The schools which took part in the event were State Public School (Shahkot), St Soldier School (Jalandhar), KMV Sanskriti School (Jaladhar), Guru Nanak Mission School (Bhogpur), DAV Public School (Bilga), Innocent Hearts School (Jalandhar), MGN Public School (Adarsh Nagar), Dayanand Model Sr Sec School Jalandhar, Saffron Public School (Phagwara), and Guru Nanak Public School (Bholath).

Judges on the occasion were Dean Apeejay Institute of Management Ramamandi Jalandhar Cantt Dr Kulwant Kaur and Assistant Professor Gurbakshish Kaur from BD Arya Girls College.

Students came up with different and new concepts on Artificial Intelligence.

Kumari Anchal from DAV Public School (Bilga) spoke in favour of the motion. She began by putting forth her opinion, “Though artificial, it is genuine. Artificial intelligence has made our lives easier.”

Yugam Sharma of Dayanand Model Senior Secondary School shared his viewpoint and was against the concept of Artificial Intelligence. He said, “Man is created by God for a purpose, and by depending too much on artificial intelligence, aren’t we interfering with the realm of almighty God. How would the artificial intelligence help in eradicating the problems that are prevailing in the society. There is no match to human mind as when it comes to creativity, nothing can beat a human mind.”

He concluded by saying, “When we as humans have the power and energy, why be dependent on artificial intelligence.” Mapreet from Guru Nanak Public School Bholath also spoke in favour of Artificial Intelligence. “It has made the lives of humans much easier as they do not need to do work manually,” she said.

Sukhman from MGN Public School (Adarsh Nagar) was also in favour and said, “Technology is the reason why today we are better than the Stone Age.”

A student Suraj Singh put across valid points by saying that the biggest point that should be of major concern is that people are spending most of their time in virtual world than spending it with their loved ones. “Smart phones in the name of Artificial Intelligence have crept in the lives of people.” He said the children have laptops in their hands, but they lack imagination. They spend a good part of their childhood in playing online games which is only affecting their health.

Winners’ take

Raghav Sharma- 1st prize – Innocent Hearts School

Artificial Intelligence is a threat to mankind rather than being a savior. Can a machine be ever able to solve actual problems that are prevailing in our society? Human race is capable enough to run on its own rather than being dependent on machines. Why to depend on Artificial Intelligence when we have our own intelligence. We human being as a species have failed to understand the true meaning of life.

Shikhar- 2nd prize- MGN Public School

Bill Gates once said humans should be worried about the threat posed by artificial intelligence. It is making human beings completely useless. It has the potential to destroy the economy and the jobs and the manual labour. Don’t you feel morally wrong that we humans want to create something which is equally superior to us?

Harshita Luthra- 3rd prize- Innocent Hearts School

It’s a boon as well as a blessing for human kind. The growth of artificial intelligence is beyond human imagination. The use of automatic data processing and robotics has increased and it has saved human efforts and money.

Consolation prize winners

1st consolation prize: Muskandeep Kaur- Saffron Public School (Phagwara)

2nd Consolation: Palak Duggal- Sanskriti KMV School

3rd Consolation: Yugam Sharma- Dayanand Model Senior Secondary School

Names of participants

Gaganpreet Kaur, Fiza Rai, Madhur, Anshpreet Kaur, Palak Duggal, Suraj Singh, Jasleen Kaur, Kumari Anchal, Ritu, Harshita Luthra, Raghav Sharma, Sukhman, Shikhar, Yugam Sharma, Saurav Sharma, Gagandeep Kaur, Himanshu Goel, Muskandeep Kaur, Manpreet, Jashandeep Kaur and Jasleen Kaur.