Four Ways To Use AI Responsibly | McAfee Blog

Are you skeptical about mainstream artificial intelligence? Or are you all in on AI and use it all day, every day?  

The emergence of AI in daily life is streamlining workdays, homework assignments, and for some, personal correspondences. To live in a time where we can access this amazing technology from the smartphones in our pockets is a privilege; however, overusing AI or using it irresponsibly could cause a chain reaction that not only affects you but your close circle and society beyond. 

Here are four tips to help you navigate and use AI responsibly. 

1. Always Double Check AI’s Work

Artificial intelligence certainly earns the “intelligence” part of its name, but that doesn’t mean it never makes mistakes. Make sure to proofread or review everything AI creates, be it written, visual, or audio content.  

For instance, if you’re seeking a realistic image or video, AI often adds extra fingers and distorts faces. Some of its creations can be downright nightmarish! Also, there’s a phenomenon known as an AI hallucination. This occurs when the AI doesn’t admit that it doesn’t know the answer to your question. Instead, it makes up information that is untrue and even fabricates fake sources to back up its claims. 

One AI hallucination landed a lawyer in big trouble in New York. The lawyer used ChatGPT to write a brief, but he didn’t double check the AI’s work. It turns out the majority of the brief was incorrect.1 

Whether you’re a blogger with thousands of readers or you ask AI to write a little blurb to share amongst your friends or coworkers, it is imperative to edit everything that an AI tool generates. Not doing so could start a rumor based on a completely false claim. 

2. Be Transparent

If you use AI to do more than gather a few rough ideas, you should cite the tool you used as a source. Passing off an AI’s work as your own could be considered cheating in the eyes of teachers, bosses, or critics.  

There’s a lot of debate about whether AI has a place in the art world. One artist entered an image to a photography contest that he secretly created with AI. When his submission won the contest, the photographer revealed AI’s role in the image and gave up his prize. The photographer intentionally kept AI out of the conversation to prove a point, but imagine if he kept the image’s origin to himself.2 Would that be fair? When other photographers had to wait for the perfect angle of sunlight or catch a fleeting moment in time, should an AI-generated image with manufactured lighting and static subjects be judged the same way? 

3. Share Thoughtfully

Even if you don’t personally use AI, you’re still likely to encounter it daily, whether you realize it or not. AI-generated content is popular on social media, like the deepfake video game battles between politicians.3 (A deepfake is a manipulation of a photo, video, or audio clip that depicts something that never happened.) The absurdity of this video series is likely to tip off the viewer to its playful intent, though it’s best practice to add a disclaimer to any deepfake. 

Some deepfake have a malicious intent on top of looking and sounding very realistic. Especially around election time, fake news reports are likely to swirl and discredit the candidates. A great rule of thumb is: If it seems too fantastical to be true, it likely isn’t. Sometimes all it takes is five minutes to guarantee the authenticity of a social media post, photo, video, or news report. Think critically about the authenticity of the report before sharing. Fake news reports spread quickly, and many are incendiary in nature. 

4. Opt for Authenticity

According to “McAfee’s Modern Love Research Report,” 26% of respondents said they would use AI to write a love note; however, 49% of people said that they’d feel hurt if their partner tasked a machine with writing a love note instead of writing one with their own human heart and soul. 

Today’s AI is not sentient. That means that even if the final output moved you to tears or to laugh out loud, the AI itself doesn’t truly understand the emotions behind what it creates. It’s simply using patterns to craft a reply to your prompt. Hiding or funneling your true feelings into a computer program could result in a shaky and secretive relationship. 

Plus, if everyone relied upon AI content generation tools like ChatGPT, Bard, and Copy.ai, then how can we trust any genuine display of emotion? What would the future of novels, poetry, and even Hollywood look like?  

Be Cautious Yet Confident 

Responsible AI is a term that governs the responsibilities programmers have to society to ensure they populate AI systems with bias-free and accurate data. OpenAI (the organization behind ChatGPT and DALL-E) vows to act in “the best interests of humanity.”4 From there, the everyday people who interact with AI must similarly act in the best interests of themselves and those around them to avoid unleashing the dangers of AI upon society.   

The capabilities of AI are vast, and the technology is getting more sophisticated by the day. To ensure that the human voice and creative spirit doesn’t permanently take on a robotic feel, it’s best to use AI in moderation and be open with others about how you use it. 

To give you additional peace of mind, McAfee+ can restore your online privacy and identity should you fall into an AI-assisted scam. With identity restoration experts and up to $2 million in identity theft coverage, you can feel better about navigating this new dimension in the online world.   

1The New York Times, “Here’s What Happens When Your Lawyer Uses ChatGPT” 

2ARTnews, “Artist Wins Photography Contest After Submitting AI-Generated Image, Then Forfeits Prize” 

3Business Insider, “AI-generated audio of Joe Biden and Donald Trump trashtalking while gaming is taking over TikTok”   

4OpenAI, “OpenAI Charter”