Living with AI

The impact of artificial intelligence (AI) on Vietnamese youth is becoming increasingly evident, opening up many promising trends as well as posing challenges.

AI is no longer a foreign concept to most young people; in fact, it's contributing to changing the way they work, study, think, and even act.

A valuable assistant

Despite receiving a topic from her lecturer and being encouraged to discuss it with friends in a group, Nguyen Le Quynh (a first-year public relations student) still pulled out her phone to consult… ChatGPT. Many other Gen Z students also have a habit of using AI in their studies.

More and more apps, websites, and software are being launched to serve the diverse needs of learners. The most popular are ChatGPT (OpenAI) – a virtual assistant that answers questions, writes articles, explains concepts, and provides language and programming support. Grammarly helps check grammar, edit sentences, and suggest ways to write more natural-sounding English. QuillBot features sentence rewriting, paraphrasing, summarizing, and plagiarism checking. Khanmigo (from Khan Academy) is essentially a personal assistant: explaining lessons and exercises and supporting practice. Among language learning apps, Duolingo stands out with its ability to tailor lessons to individual skill levels.

AI doesn't steal jobs; in fact, those who know how to use AI will have an advantage over those who haven't paid attention to or used AI. (Illustration of AI: HA LINH)

In addition, there's Jasper AI, which is suitable for suggesting essays; Elicit, which is very useful for finding academic documents, summarizing, and comparing research papers; Socratic by Google, an AI-powered homework solver that helps students understand each step of the problem-solving process; and Otter.ai, which specializes in recording and converting lectures and meetings into text, making note-taking easier for learners. Previously, students relied mainly on teachers, books, and the internet to research knowledge. Now, AI assists in summarizing documents, solving assignments, writing reports, and practicing foreign languages... at a low cost. Therefore, many young people see AI as a tool for better, faster, more efficient, and more creative learning.

However, this also raises concerns: Will young people gradually become "lazy" in their thinking, losing their analytical, creative, and critical thinking skills – when they become too dependent on AI?

One should not become dependent.

Living with AI is no longer a choice, but an undeniable reality as the labor market undergoes changes. AI handles many repetitive, process-driven tasks quite well, such as data entry, translation, and document compilation.

Mr. Le Van Loc (29 years old; residing in Binh Tan District, Ho Chi Minh City) said that using an automated chatbot has helped him save a considerable amount of money on hiring dedicated staff to manage his fanpage 24/7. The chatbot can categorize and handle simple questions in customer service, order processing, etc. For someone like Mr. Loc, who is just starting a book business, AI is truly a valuable "colleague" when the workforce is still small.

The quick adaptability, readiness to embrace and utilize technology are common traits easily seen in Gen Z young people like Loc. Nguyen Nhu May (30 years old, from Tien Giang province) frequently uses Notion AI to write notes, summaries, and plans. However, for someone working in marketing like her, AI, while a powerful tool, only plays a supporting role and cannot completely replace humans. According to Nhu May, building creative ideas, controlling content, and understanding customer psychology to develop appropriate strategies still require human decision-making with emotional intelligence. "If understood and used correctly, AI helps us increase productivity and is a 'lever' to advance in our careers. But if we become too dependent on or abuse it, it can have the opposite effect," Nhu May stated.

Many companies are trending towards downsizing and investing in AI, and employees who don't upgrade their skills are likely to fall behind. New professions such as Prompt Engineer (AI scripter), AI Trainer, and Data Annotator are gaining increasing attention and have strong growth prospects.

Keeping up with the trend

According to Mr. Le Anh Tu, CEO of iGem Agency, young people with AI skills will easily adapt to trends, think flexibly, and avoid falling behind in the current labor market. With a company that has a large Gen Z workforce and many partners and clients of similar age, Mr. Anh Tu observed: "For young employees, the approach should be to apply AI to existing work processes to improve quality, efficiency, and productivity." There are many forms of AI, but in the content creation industry, it's commonly used to find topics, develop projects, or support image design. "It's crucial to hone the ability to issue effective prompts. The more you use a licensed AI account, the better the AI ​​understands the user, leading to more seamless collaboration," Mr. Le Anh Tu emphasized.

Source: https://nld.com.vn/song-chung-voi-ai-19625041919251148.htm