A Note From The CAI Co-Chairs – Issue 2

From the CAI Co-Chairs
Todd Essig, PhD and Amy Levy, PsyD

 

Sometimes, knowing where you are can help you get where you want to go. That’s why we’re using our second Co-Chairs Note to spotlight the CAI Survey Project. This survey is designed to take a snapshot of current attitudes toward and uses of Artificial Intelligence. In addition to hoping you’ll read this entire issue of The CAI Report, we’re also asking you to click over and complete the survey — https://pace.qualtrics.com/jfe/form/SV_bDiyK2QO37FusqW

The survey involved many months of R&D led by Leora Trub, CAI member and Director of the Pace University Digital Media and Psychology Lab. Her student Darby Lasky drove the process, working along with other members of Professor Trub’s lab (listed below). We have tremendous gratitude for the terrific work they’ve done and continue to do.

We want to note that a significant challenge infuses all attempts to research the adoption of emerging technologies like AI. Describing this challenge twelve years ago one of us wrote that “because technology develops so much faster than research gets done, what research helps us understand is what people used to do, not what they do now,” calling it—tongue in cheek—the “Essig Uncertainty Principle.” This is the research version of the more widely recognized and globally significant “pacing problem” where the rapid development and adoption of AI technologies create regulatory and socio-cultural lags, leading to ever-widening gaps between AI advancements and their alignment with public interests and ethical standards. One real-world example of this challenge: in the weeks preceding this issue of The CAI Report, a new generation of AI models  was released with advanced reasoning ability added to the already familiar pattern recognition capability.

The CAI Survey Project is, and will be, responding to this challenge in two ways. First, we will interpret the results with acute awareness that the AI age is rapidly accelerating. Second, we plan to revisit these questions down the road—perhaps with another iteration of the survey or a different research method.

So, the bottom line is: please take the survey, read on, and stay tuned!

 

Pace University Digital Media and Psychology Lab:

Leora Trub, PhD, Director
Darby Lasky (Survey Lead)
Jake Kuegler
Rebecca McFadden
Kyle Pritz
Emma Rich
M.C. Williams
Immanuel Zion

 

For more information, please email apsa.cai.report@gmail.com.