Blog Post #11: EOTO Review 2

    Throughout these presentations I learned a bunch of new information and terms that I had never heard of. However, there is one persons topic that sparked my interest because of how common it is. As well as, how important it is in todays world. Reanna spoke on the topic of Artificial Intelligence and all the inventions over the years that have come with it. 

    To begin, Eliza, this was the first form of AI that was created by Joseph Weizenbaum in 1966. This was seen as an online therapist and anyone can go on this website and ask questions and Eliza will answer sometimes in a question form using Natural Language Processing. This ruined Weizenbaum's life, and he regretted it. When he created Eliza, he had no idea how much power and control that a simple computer could have. But the number of questions people would ask led to the computer knowing and learning more information than Joseph had ever imagined. This was just the beginning of AI and the technologies have come a long way, its scary. 

    Next up, Siri, this is a form of AI that I have grown up using and is still popular today even though it originally came out in 2010. Siri started as an app that could be downloaded on phones and then with the new Apple 4s they found a way to integrate it into phone and it was removed from the app store. Siri is now known as Apples personal assistant and can be found across all Apple products. After Siri all the other companies had to come up with their own versions. Amazon created Alexa who was based off the Polish device Ivona which they bought to help them create Alexa. Amazon's Alexa can play podcasts, set alarms, etc. Next came Google, this was named the Google Home, and while it is similar to the other two they added new features that hooks up to your doorbell, security cameras, and even thermostats. Lastly, in 2018 Apple decided to come out with their own version of the Google Home and name it "HomePod". All of these individual products use Natural Language Processing. 

  AI took its next big step in 2022 when DALL-E was released. This software generates images by using natural language description. Now you can type up any prompt such as, a unicorn floating in space and an image will be developed. To wrap this up, in 2023 ChatGPT was created. This online chat box has gathered so much information it is ready for any question, problem, or prompt you have. 

    While it truly is impressive to learn about all of these different AI devices and the history of it, I cant help but be scared for what is to come. Having technology listening to us all of the time is terrifying and this is still just the beginning. 

    

 Blog Post #10: Age of AI

    Lets start from the beginning, what is AI? According to Tech Target, the term AI, coined in the 1950s, refers to the simulation of human intelligence by machines. While Artificial Intelligence has been around for decades the use of AI has skyrocketed in the past few years and surrounds us in our everyday lives. 

"About 50% of jobs will be threatened by Artificial Intelligence within the next 50 years" this was the first quote that was said during this film. This concerning statistic left a big impression on me because I go through my everyday life hearing about AI but it doesn't set in how scary it actually is until you hear a real life statistic. These robots are taking over our jobs and then what is next? I walked into a restaurant the other day and a robot brought out my food, not a waiter. It is shocking how quickly this is happening all around us.

    While AI is quickly taking over at a concerning rate there is no doubt that there can be positive outcomes from it as well. For example, there is a game in China by the name Go. Many people believed that there was no way a human would loose to AI, but after five rounds of playing AlphaGO the AI took the win four out of the five games. The main reason for this was that the computer can come up with different approaches to the game that human would never think of. It is impressive and a positive outcome of AI when you use it to learn new things even if the medical world. AI has made major steps to help detecting breast cancer early on. 

    The most concerning thing to me is Google. The constant surveillance and data collecting causes us to feel worried with where the future will go. Not only are we dealing with our search history being saved but also people bring new technology, like GoogleHome, into their homes to listen in on every single thing they say. 

 Blog Post #9: EOTO Agenda Setting Theory

    My group was assigned theories, when I was assigned the Agenda Setting theory I was eager to learn more. Agenda Setting Theory describes the ability to influence the importance placed on the topics of the public agenda. In simpler terms it is suggests that the media can shape the public opinion by determining how much or little importance they put on a topic. This topic goes hand and hand with another theory, gatekeeping, both theories shape how people think about topics just by what they are told. 

    
    Now that we know what agenda setting theory is, lets back up and start with the history of this theory. Maxwell McCombs and Dr. Donald Shaw founded the Agenda Setting Theory in the year 1968. The two studied the 1968 Presidential Election and discovered that the media and news had an impact on the viewers opinions. This was based out of Chapel Hill, NC. They furthered their research by looking at the OJ Simpson murder trial as well as the attempted impeachment of President Clinton. When doing research these were the only two names that came up, that was until I stumbled on one website that brought two more people into the creation, Walter Lippman and Bernard Cohen. Lippmann, a journalist in the 1920's, argued that people were not capable of experiencing in the big world, instead they find out everything that has been constructed by the news. Cohen refined this idea by stating that the media does not tell people what to think, but what to think about. This was dated back to 1963. Then McCombs and Shaw were the first ones to put this theory to the test.

    There are different levels to agenda setting. The main two are First and Second Levels but there is also Priming, and Framing. So lets start with the First Level, this deals with how different media outlets use content to influence their audience. This is considered the traditional part of Agenda Setting Theory. It is where the media is seen influencing the what issues are included in the public agenda. Then there is the Second Level of the theory, this part deals with the study of how the media presents different issues. While they sound similar, first is the influence of issue while the second is the influence of attribute. Now, Priming comes into the picture. This is when news outlets show their set of values through the news stories that they prioritize. Priming impact the viewers since it highlights key stories as most important. And lastly there is Framing. This is how the news puts out content from a certain perspective. Different news articles approach stories and events in different ways. 

    Lastly, I wanted to quickly touch on the three types of Agenda Setting, public, media, and policy. Public Agenda Setting is when the public determines the importance of a story, this can impact the agenda of the news. Media Agenda setting occurs when the media determines the importance of stories. Policy Agenda Setting is when the media and public determine the agenda of the news. 

    Agenda Setting Theory affects yourself, family, and friends everyday and most of the time you might not even have a clue. We are so used to hearing the news and stories without even thinking that how the story is told to us affects how we view it afterwards, and that is Agenda Setting Theory.