Artificial intelligence (AI) has taken over headlines in recent years. I remember being in my first year of university when ChatGPT was first launched, and I was amazed and horrified, as many others were, at its abilities and the possible implications of it. 

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I am not the kind of person who worries about AI taking over the world. Maybe I'm just not as big of a fan of the Terminator franchise as others. But when I think about AI and its impacts, I think about academia and art. I think about the jobs being taken away from designers and writers. These are big issues which young people today are unfortunately having to deal with because, whether we like it or not, artificial intelligence is here to stay. And it is only going to get more advanced over the course of our lifetimes. 

All of these worries and thoughts I have about artificial intelligence led me to UBCO’s own Artificial Intelligence Club. I noticed a poster of theirs a few weeks before writing this article and was immediately intrigued. AI is such a hot-button issue right now so I was shocked and impressed that there was already a club dedicated to the topic. I set out for an interview with the club’s executive shortly after. 

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I met with Shreya Saxena, a third-year computer science major who is the president and a co-founder of the AI club, to get more of a sense of what this group is all about. The club was founded in early 2023, and the inspiration behind the club’s founding came from the same place that sprouted my curiosity for it — ChatGPT. Interested in the intricate inner workings of the programme and frustrated with the lack of resources at UBCO regarding artificial intelligence, Saxena and her peers decided to apply with the SUO to create their club. 

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The main vision for the club was to bring people who are curious about artificial intelligence together with experts in the field in order to foster a greater understanding of programmes like ChatGPT and the wide range of other AI models. The club looks to bring in computer science professors and other academics who are currently researching AI and connect them with students through guest lectures and other events. 

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Currently, the AI club is working to prepare students for an AI-integrated job market through club projects. 

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In the words of Saxena, “everybody wants a piece of AI.” So, the club is working to help computer science students build their resumes through the club’s collaborative creation of an AI chatbot. The project is coming together through phases, of which the club has just completed the third phase. Students have the opportunity to learn how to develop specific portions of the chatbot and to get together with their peers to put the whole project together. 

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The AI club aims to make the experience as accessible and inclusive as possible. While the club is mostly comprised of computer science majors, all people interested in AI are welcome. They have even put together a step-by-step guide for the creation of their chatbot which can be found for free on Github. 

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Looking for the future, the AI club hopes to collaborate with other clubs and course unions across different fields. The malleability of AI means that the club would be able to collaborate with a number of different groups. They also hope to introduce different company inquiries to help students connect with the job market once they have completed their studies. 

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If you have further questions, contact the AI club at theartificialintelligenceclub@gmail.com and check out their Instagram @aiclub.suo for upcoming events. Additionally, if you are curious about building your own chatbot, you can find the club’s instructions on GitHub.