Written by: Russell Chun on September 4, 2023

Искусственный интеллект – тьма и свет – (Russian) – Artificial Intelligence – Dark and Light (Google Translate)

Summary (before you read)

Part 1.   AI – Initial task, “The Creator – A Film”, responding to the fear.

Part 2.   AI – Weapons, at the US Northern Border & AI at the Southern Border.

Part 3.   AI in my NPO.

Part 1 AI – Initial task, “The Creator – A Film”, responding to the fear.

• Initial task – When I asked ChatGPT to translate my title into Russian the answer was unusable. I reverted to Google Translate and prayed that the answer was correct. Perhaps that is the essence of our dilemma when we approach ChatGPT and AI in general – is it trustworthy? If not, how do we make it better – because AI is not going away.

Lucinda McKnight writes, “Socially responsible engagement with AI text generators needs to be both creative and critical. The opportunity to experiment with AI – while always being aware that users are themselves training AI in the process – is a vital component of contemporary higher education. [1]  Her article is a great stab at approaching AI as an ever present and growing tool. (Sentence corrected by Word spell check).

• The Creator – A film.

Let me run down a rabbit hole for a moment into the area of creative film heightening fears of AI. The Creator is an upcoming American science fiction action thriller film co-produced and directed by Gareth Edwards.  Taking place in a future impacted by a war between the human race and the forces of artificial intelligence, the film’s plot follows an ex-special forces agent who is recruited to hunt down and kill the Creator, who has developed a mysterious weapon with the power to end the war by destroying mankind itself. (Wikipedia – trustworthy?) . The film helps me define an aspect of AI in the world – FEAR of the unknown.

• Answering that fear – I was relieved to hear from Michael Webb at the National Centre for AI in Tertiary Education whose Aim is to accelerate the adoption of artificial intelligence across the tertiary education sector in a responsible way. The bottom line is that people smarter than me are hammering at AI use, ethics, legality etc.… that one hopes will generate usable policies for us. I found it comforting to note that online sources such as “Perplexity” are merging GPT3 with search.  It is a good start, but the issue will continue and I am taking Webb’s advice and staying posted to the research that he and coworkers are doing at https://beta.jisc.ac.uk/innovation/national-centre-for-ai/.  His ending words resonate with me, “In your area of expertise, you have to evaluate use case. Explore it more and take it there. TEST IT.

Part 2. AI – Weapons, at the US Northern Border & AI at the Southern Border.

• Perhaps fueling our AI fears (think Terminator), is the use of AI in our current U.S. Weapon systems. For instance, “The Valkyrie is a prototype for what the Air Force hopes can become a potent supplement to its fleet of traditional fighter jets, giving human pilots a swarm of highly capable robot wingmen to deploy in battle. “ Photo Credit…Edmund D. Fountain for The New York Times.[2] Essentially a next-generation drone, the Valkyrie is a prototype for what the Air Force hopes can become a potent supplement to its fleet of traditional fighter jets, giving human pilots a swarm of highly capable robot wingmen to deploy in battle. Its mission is to marry artificial intelligence and its sensors to identify and evaluate enemy threats and then, after getting human sign-off, to move in for the kill.[3]

As I watch the successful drone attacks being used in Russia and Ukraine, I wonder at the unspoken topic – remote pilots – human or AI?

• Heading toward my NPO and Immigration I discovered the techno wall being built between the U.S. and Mexico. Started by Trump and continued by Biden the effort continues. “Now, 22 sites of high-resolution cameras and radar driven by artificial intelligence — called the Northern Border Remote Video Surveillance System or NBRVSS — adds critical capability to Border Patrol operations.[4]
• But wait there is more….

‘Smart’ cameras at work on the border – Border Patrol agents east of El Paso are using artificial intelligence cameras and other technology to detect and rescue migrants in mountain and desert terrain. The cameras detect changes in landscape and track individuals and groups in the desert. “They have been a game-changer, a force multiplier,” Aleman said. “They detect anything within its area, give us the exact location of3.  folks coming through here. (They) narrow down the response time, narrow down apprehension time so we can quickly move on to other areas where activity is detected.”[5]

Part 3. AI in my NPO – US Immigration – refugee resettlement, 1st 90 days

• How is AI going to impact my NPO? What are the dangers, limits and possibilities of AI for your studies?
• Immigration is a hot button topic in politics and the church. According to Duffy, two topics combine to demonstrate how “Why We’re Wrong About Nearly Everything.” Immigration and religion, he states, are two of the most divisive issues in the world today.  Emotions are high, and our delusions, not just about the scale but the nature of minority populations, are frightening. p. 87.[6]
• For my NPO, I address Religion and Immigration seen from a biblical perspective (Deut 10:18, Orphans, Widows and the Alien Amongst us), and have conducted some AI experimentation. The last 5,000 words of my NPO will be the development of a telephone app called Interlinkt that will empower refugees (let’s call them Newcomers) and their volunteer support team (let’s call them the church).
• First of all, the tasks are familiar to me and so I wrote up the tasks with memory as a guide. Then I used google search to confirm the process for each and THEN I started to see what ChatGPT had to say. Lessons learned:
  1. (CON) Get the prompts wrong or not specific enough and the information is unusable. (learning curve for the user).
  2. (PRO) Translating the tasks into the languages used by the 16 U.S. Temporary Protected Status Countries is faster using ChatGPT than Google Translate. I had to fiddle with some of the paragraph numbering to make sure I didn’t lose content.
  3. (PRO) It is easier to use ChatGPT to discover individual U.S. State procedures for state run process like application for Food Stamps (each state is different).
  4. (CON) I have to verify EVERYTHING via google search before adding it to Interlinkt.
• I will continue to experiment with AI but have a healthy dose of VERIFICATION before PUBLICATION. In short, AI and my NPO are a work in process.  As I conclude, I am seeing AI visually as the Ying and Yang symbol.  Swirling Dark and Light. Situation normal?

• For those interested in the resettlement tasks I am working on are as follows. (* indicates tasks that are supported by resettlement agency caseworkers but can be done concurrently).

Task #1 – Pre arrival preparation.

Task #2 – (*) Housing – Welcome baskets, furniture, and clothing.

Task #3 – File Folder For Travel Documents, Important Files

Task #4 – (*) Receive initial medical records and enroll individual (s) in designated medical facility. Obtain  Vaccination records in medical facility (sealed envelope) for school registration. Refugee

Medicaid is only good for 90 days. Reapply for regular Medicaid after 90 days or apply for

Task #5 – (*) SSN – within 10 days of arrival (new requirement may require a wait for 2 week delay).    Needed for Bank account.

Task #6 – (*) Begin English as Second Language Training- ESL Training: 1) public transportation, 2)

shopping, 3) Job Training 3) Job Application, 4) Job Interview, 5) Job Culture, 6) private insurance.

Task #7 – (*) Register/enroll school aged children.    Assist students in signing for individual laptop, open up student account, ESL tutoring, parent training, soccer/other sports

Task #8 – (*) Begin Job Training and placement.

Task #9 – (*) Employment Authorization Card https://www.uscis.gov/green-card/green-card-processes- and-procedures/employment-authorization-document

Task #10 – (*) Register families for Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program Special Supplemental Nutrition Program (SNAP) https://www.fns.usda.gov/snap/supplemental-nutrition-assistance-

Task #11 – (*) Register newcomers for Women, Infants, and Children (WIC) https://www.fns.usda.gov/wic

Task #12 – Shopping, ethnic foods, clothes, shoes

Task #13 – (*) Financial Literacy – Bank Account – checking + credit card, savings + debit card, Checks and overdraft protection.  Loans and interest rates. Direct deposit (or monthly fees).

Task #14 – Driver’s Permit (online test), Driver’s License

Task #15 – Newcomer Trauma

[1] THE Campus Learn, Share, Connect. “Lucinda McKnight,” October 11, 2022. https://www.timeshighereducation.com/campus/authors/lucinda-mcknight.

[2] Lipton, Eric. “A.I. Brings the Robot Wingman to Aerial Combat.” The New York Times, August 27, 2023, sec. U.S. https://www.nytimes.com/2023/08/27/us/politics/ai-air-force.html.

[3] Ibid

[4] “CBP Artificial Intelligence | U.S. Customs and Border Protection.” Accessed September 2, 2023. https://www.cbp.gov/frontline/cbp-artificial-intelligence.

[5] Ibid

[6] Duffy, Bobby. Why We’re Wrong about Nearly Everything: A Theory of Human Misunderstanding. First US edition. New York: Basic Books, 2019.

About the Author

Russell Chun

interlinkt.org is now ready for your Refugee Resettlement needs. 15 tasks, languages ESL plans coming

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2 responses to “Искусственный интеллект – тьма и свет – (Russian) – Artificial Intelligence – Dark and Light (Google Translate)”

1. Travis Vaughn says:

   September 6, 2023 at 2:43 am

   Russell, this was such a great post. And of course, now I am interested in the film you referenced. I saw a trailer for it last week. I immediately thought of the 2001 film, “AI” starring Jude Law, however, I’m thinking The Creator will be nothing like Spielberg’s film, apart from the AI themes.

   In part 3 of your post, I thought about a part of my NPO that is currently involved in researching “weak ties” and how these loose connections in an organization, presbytery, or denominational association contribute to the flourishing of leaders (and the org). You used the word “newcomers” for immigrants and “church” for volunteer support team. I wonder what part “newcomers” will continue to play within the present and future life of a denominational association of churches. After all, “weak ties” (see Mark Granovetter’s research at Stanford concerning “weak ties”) contribute to new information, new ideas, and new connections (e.g., new employment). I wonder what new AI could be utilized by the volunteer support team — the church — to help promote weak ties in new ways to help foster these new connections. I’m thinking aloud. Much more to ponder.

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2. Russell Chun says:

   September 6, 2023 at 5:01 am

   Hi Travis,

   To respond to your thoughts. #1 As I develop my NPO on Immigration, I have come across like minded persons. John Yoder is one of them. He developed the organization called Immigration Connections..
   https://www.immigrantministry.com/about

   The websites writes….The Vision to Launch
   John found that first-generation immigrants are far more responsive to the gospel than native-born Americans, and that the fastest growth of both new believers and new churches in North America is among the foreign-born.

   He also discovered that American churches who form relational and ministry bonds with these churches cultivate fresh momentum.

   #2, I had not considered how AI could help the refugee (Newcomer/New Americans is the term being used by resettlement agencies). A super powered google search…AI could really fill in the blanks for refugee understanding of US integration.

   As one of the authors stated, we will have to TRAIN AI giving it the best information we have.

   The other side of the double edged sword is that AI could give the refugee false/made up answers…Sigh. AI a work in progress?

   Thanks for responding.

   Shalom…

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