The day has finally come! My package is done, my issues are fixed (at least the ones in my code), and fall break is here. Now instead of a needy cat demanding attention while I write this, I have a dog with separation anxiety AND a needy cat demanding attention. Still, this seems like a fitting ending to my excitement-filled week. 

On Monday, I received my little for my sorority, Chi Omega. Our reveal is next week, and I got one of my closest friends, so I cannot wait. On Wednesday, I had the opportunity to attend the Mindful Marketing Case Competition at Messiah University. I did not compete, but my professor still encouraged me to go for the networking opportunity. The Bucknell team ended up winning first place, and I am so proud of them (Yay Skyler!). I have never really networked before, so I was nervous. I joked with one of my business friends, “When in doubt, I’ll just talk about math!” She looked at me like I was insane. Well, I ended up getting left alone at our table, which was terrifying, when one of the judges came up to talk to me. He asked about my major and when I told him statistics, he lit up. It turns out he works as the Head of Innovation at a marketing firm called WebFX. 

He focuses on implementing AI and different programs into the company’s day-to-day life. I mentioned STAT306 to him, and he was very interested in the concept of the class. He ended up encouraging me to connect with him on LinkedIn. I spent the rest of that night researching internships with WebFX. So, in case anyone was wondering, talking about math when you don’t know what to say is a good idea.

Thinking about how AI is implemented into marketing, also got me thinking about how AI is used in other fields. I ended up choosing the episode “Fiction, with Teresa Heffernan” from the podcast The Data Fix with Dr. Mél Hogan. The main focus was how literature, mainly fiction and science fiction, influences people’s use and thoughts on artificial intelligence. 

Many people believe that everything AI tells them is absolute and objective responses. This stems from the way society consumes literature. In science fiction, AI is portrayed as an all knowing, advanced humanoid creation. These misconceptions often influence people’s view on all technology. Even I am a victim of that. I went into college thinking I would be making high tech visualizations and creating programs that did complicated calculations. Then I learned R. I’m not saying I’m not proud of my accomplishments, but after my tenth time getting the same error message all because other packages were not imported correctly, I was considering switching to a MIDE major instead of a MIDE minor. At least then I wouldn’t have to deal with GIT issues anymore. 

Then I remembered that I was in charge of my code, not the other way around (and I would miss the math too much). If we stop treating fictional concepts as reality, we can set realistic goals without setting ourselves up for failure. I’m not saying creativity and innovation are bad, they are what keeps the world moving. You do however, have to remember that what books and movies show you are creations set in worlds with no rules. To have the same effect in the real world, we have to learn what rules exist and use them to further our own creations. For example, when I was working on my package, I had zero idea what I needed to do and what commands I needed to run. After taking the time to understand what I needed to do and how everything worked, I was able to combine all of the aspects of my package and resolve all of the errors. 

Unrealistic expectations are not the only issue with letting fiction affect our ideas. One point brought up in the podcast was that sometimes science fiction is written to warn us against the dangers of technology. Instead of listening to these warnings, we are using them as a road map for our own innovation. In Sara’s latest newsletter “Unmonitored and Off-Leash”, she discusses how many people believe AI is “going rogue”, but in reality, humans are designing it to find exploits and disabling safety features. Of course, when you mess with those things, AI is going to not do exactly what you want. There have been hundreds of books and movies warning us about why we should not be doing this. On the first day of class, Prof. Stoudt gave us strict instructions never to put a client's data into AI. This could compromise confidentiality, depending on how that tool handles and stores the information.

This week, I learned that understanding technology is just as important as understanding what it can accomplish. AI can make repetitive marketing tasks easier and help work through problems in statistics, but neither its capabilities nor its limitations should be taken at face value. As someone who wants a career centered around these ideas, I want to learn how to use these tools effectively while also questioning how they work, whose interests they serve, and what risks they introduce. Fiction can inspire us to imagine what technology might become, but it is our responsibility to understand what we are actually building. Technology can be an amazing assistant, but only that, an assistant.

Until Next Week,

Aylee and Binksley