Editor’s Note: All opinion section content reflects the views of the individual author only and does not represent a stance taken by The Collegian or its editorial board.

I am an artist. I paint, draw and do textile art. In fact, I am a creative writing major. So believe me when I say artificial intelligence is the worst thing I’ve ever had the displeasure of interacting with.

Starting with a small yet well known program, the Google AI assistant sucks. At this point, most people have seen it, and there are many reports of poor interactions. The program was developed when Google made a deal with Reddit and has since resulted in the AI assistant being fed mostly information from Reddit. This prompted people to get results that listed glue as a pizza ingredient and rocks as extra dietary nutrients. Additionally, there is no way to opt-out of this mostly useless feature. No one asked for Google to add this. Nobody wanted this. But I suppose it is easy enough to ignore.

“As a writer, I simply do not understand why one would get a computer to write a bad paragraph when it takes only 15 minutes to write one on your own.”

AI also has a large number of environmental impacts. In a 2023 study on AI’s energy footprint, Alphabet Inc’s chairman said that interacting with large language models could “likely cost 10 times more than a standard keyword search.” Google’s AI assistant appears with a response to most every search, meaning that each of those searches could use the same amount of energy required for an LLM interaction. With the looming shadow of irreversible climate change, the environmental costs do not justify the benefits of AI.

But my biggest gripe is the quality of the results of AI. Many students use AI to generate their work for them. I don’t understand why they attend school then, especially in a college setting. These people are paying to be here, yet instead of doing the work that is costing them thousands of dollars, they use a computer program that isn’t even good at doing its job.

ChatGPT can’t do math because it tends to separate numbers with four or more digits. And through its use of patterns, it uses previous equations to assume what the last digit should be. It then tries to fill in the gaps with what it knows, often producing the wrong answer.

The writing from AI is also poor, to say the least. AI will take some of the best writing on the internet, break it up and scramble it together to make a subpar writing result. As a writer, I simply do not understand why one would get a computer to write a bad paragraph when it takes only 15 minutes to write one on your own. I understand that writing isn’t everyone’s cup of tea, but I would rather get a poorly worded email from a real person than an uncomfortably formal email from a computer.

And the art from AI is, of course, atrocious. Like with writing, it scrambles the best art on the internet to make really bad art. AI art also has a weird sheen to it that makes the object look like plastic and makes it clear that it is AI.

No matter the subject of the art — person or not — each image is reminiscent of the uncanny valley. Something about the art just doesn’t look right. Part of that stems from my own beliefs about what makes humans, humans. Some think it is when we made fire or learned to cook food or started caring for others. I believe it is when we started making art.

There is a cave in Argentina that is covered in hand art. The creation of art with meaning has transcended generations and civilizations. That is beautiful. It proves we have always felt the need to create art. That is why it is so uncomfortable and truly horrific when a computer tries to imitate it. I would take a stick figure any day over some AI “masterpiece.”

I have no desire to use AI. It adds nothing of value to my life that I cannot do or learn to do on my own. I’d rather learn to do it on my own.

Reach Audrey Weishaar at letters@collegian.com or on Twitter @CSUCollegian.