Can AI Accurately Depict Who We Are? -Lily Gooding

Course Reflection

Throughout this course, I have been given the opportunity to deepen my digital literacy through

assigned readings, tasks, and learning activities. For this reason,

I found the assignment of creating a digital self-representation, or an A.I. “selfie,” a very thought-provoking

and educational opportunity.  I was able to manipulate AI tools to work out the “kinks” and learn how to

utilize AI for my own personal gain. I find that in our current digital age,

it is extremely important to know how to use AI to one’s benefit,

as it can be extremely advantageous in both work, school and personal life. 


AI Selfie Creation

I began this task by brainstorming and creating prompts that described who I am as an individual.

Due to the fact that this task was to create a digital self-representation, I found it important

to not only include my physical attributes in the prompts I constructed. Our personal interests,

likes and dislikes, and passions are the true indicators of who we are, and who we will become.

Some of the prompts I used included: a student in media studies, a Christian with a strong sense of faith,

and an active person who loves to go to the gym. I also mentioned that some of the traits

I value in a person, which are kindness, loyalty and a strong sense of discipline. 


The AI I used for my final creation was Art-breeder AI. As I mentioned in my original assignment,

I went through the process of trial and error with other AI platforms before deciding on the best option for

this assignment. This was due to the fact that the other platforms I experimented with, Google Gemini and

Adobe Firefly, created extremely general images that did not utilize all of the prompts given.

Although Art-breeder AI did create the most accurate image, the individual in the picture had three feet!

This exemplifies how AI is still an evolving technology, and it is important that we do not rely solely on

it to provide 100% accurate information; we must fact-check ourselves before claiming information is

completely true and accurate. 


Identity Performance 

The concept of identity performance is quite applicable to this assignment, as,

if I am being completely honest, I chose prompts that would reflect my positive traits.

I did not include prompts like “extremely stubborn”, which is quite true of my own personality.

This reflects the concept of digital representation in our current media landscape. On social media,

we as individuals choose to showcase our best attributes, and we often hide our shortcomings or faults.

This is why it is important to remember that social media is not real life, and we must not compare

ourselves to others on social media, as it can have a strong negative impact on our self-esteem.

Another aspect that I found very interesting about this assignment was that although the physical prompts

I included were very broad, such as long brown hair and brown eyes, the image created followed the

lines of what traditionally accurate for a 22-year-old woman. This included very feminine features and feminine clothing.

I found this factor very eye-opening, as although AI is a new technology, it still aligns with the traditional

ideals that we as a society have held on to for generations. Perhaps in the future, as society becomes more

lenient toward alternative gender roles, the AI tools will follow suit.


Final Reflection

Finally, this task has been an interesting look at the concept of transliteracy.  This concept is reflected

in this task as I was assigned to translate my academic critical analysis into a blog post. In our current

digital age, individuals look to receive information as quickly and efficiently as possible.

This concept can be reflected once again within the discussion of ephemeral narratives.

As we discussed in module 6, digital media exists in a state of temporality, which encourages users to

interact quickly with social media content, due to the idea that if they do not interact immediately, the

content will disappear. This concept is analyzed in Ephemerality and Information Processing (2023), in which authors Barnea et al. explain that social media users react to ephemeral content with much l

ess critical analysis as compared to non-ephemeral content, as they do so through a reactive lens,

rather than an analytical lens. This assignment has required the task of translation an academic critical

analysis, into a short, easy to digest blog post, which is an prime example of how as technology has

evolved, so has the way individuals retain information, our attention spans have become shorter, and we

no longer have the patience for reading long papers articles, instead, we wish to extract the information

needed in the most efficient way possible. Overall, I found this assignment an insightful look at how our

digital landscape has changed how we as a society gain and retain knowledge. 



Comments

Post a Comment