With each passing week, my contempt for Aiden Cinnamon Tea grows stronger. At this point, this little nerd is saying just about anything to persuade us to work with it. I feel like stretch five was just Aiden reiterating the fact that humans and AI should work together, but adding the possibility of AI’s ability to… I’m sorry… “translate between human and non-human languages” ?????

Do you guys remember the film Cloudy With a Chance of Meatballs (2009)? Flint Lockwood has an infamous pet monkey named Steve who wears an invention Flint dubbed the “monkey thought translator.” This is to remind the audience that the film is a work of fiction. Aiden is essentially saying that it can do just what that translator can do but with just about any non-human language. We can break language barriers between human languages, but not between humans and animals. AI can only mimic human abilities, so how are we to trust that it can accurately depict what a cat means when it goes… “Meow” ?

In fact, it’s not that hard for humans to make hypotheses as to how animals are feeling or what they try to communicate. Example: Punch-kun the Macaque. This absolutely adorable precious little baby has been through so much trauma and hardships during his six-month life. There are videos of Punch getting bullied and then him running back to his stuffed orangutan. In the videos, we can see his face. We can hear his screech. We can see him clutch onto his plushie like his life depends on it (because it somewhat does). Punch doesn’t speak English or Japanese. But he does experience the same emotions that humans do, as do almost all animals.

I’d like to take a second to talk about the AI Literacy Framework study. I find it shocking that teachers are integrating AI into the classroom studies under any circumstances. I still don’t understand why this has to be the case. I never worked with AI in elementary school, and I am quite fine without it. I understand that we are in the age of AI, and it might be helpful for students to be aware of it, but teaching them by integrating AI into the curriculum is unnecessary in my opinion, and it only opens up the opportunity for them to use it more and more as their lives go on.

This integration of AI into classrooms is exactly what Aiden Cinnamon Tea wants. The collaboration between humans and AI that only contributes to the AI-literate society that we are heading towards. I saw an instagram post that resonated with me. The caption read something like, “Being anti-AI feels like being the only one left unbitten in a zombie apocalypse.” And while I still feel like there is a possibility for humans to “sing” with programs rather than shout at them, I still do not trust Aiden’s intentions.