More than data

For a long time, I have been cautious and curious about AI. So when I decided to enroll in an AI grad program, it was with hesitation and the expectation to learn how to use it to make things more efficient, help bring my ideas to life, and better understand changing technology. I was surprised to realize just how much AI depends on people.

I have always understood data through the lens of research, as something we collect to understand people and systems, and to create change. Then, I entered the world of AI, and something felt new and familiar:

Human experience is data.

Our actions are data.

Our preferences are data.

Our stories are data.

Even our frustrations become data.

Think about how AI is constantly changing. People complained that ChatGPT responses were too long, so AI adapted and summaries became bullet points. It’s the same with certain punctuation styles (I have never been more afraid to use a dash!). AI does not evolve on its own. It responds…to us.

We think about AI as something separate from humanity, but it is actually built on our knowledge, shaped by our decisions, and refined by our experience. A prompt, after all, is simply a set of instructions. And who provides those instructions? We do! Outputs are a reflection of our inputs.

We tell AI what matters. We tell it what “sounds human”, and what should change. Those instructions come from our minds, our cultures, our creativity, and our ways of knowing. Those ways of knowing ultimately come from God. We create because we were first created.

I am still cautious. There is beauty in AI, but also a lot of illusion, and in a world filled with so much information, it continues to make me question what is real and what is possible in entirely new ways.

I keep going back to the same thought: AI may be built on data, but data begins with people.

With our experiences.

With our questions.

With our hopes.

I’m always intrigued by crown shyness in forests, where treetops grow close together without touching, making patterns of space and light. I am reminded that our experiences are still our own while contributing to something larger than ourselves.

The future of AI is not only about what technology can become. It is also about what we choose to teach it about ourselves. Remembering that even our greatest innovations begin with the creativity we were given.