A choice between convenience and control | Venuk Singhapura | TEDxGC Negombo Youth

AI is presented as a convenient tool that can remove human emotion and effort from creative work. The talk raises ethical concerns, including the use of artists' work without consent, large water consumption by data centers while billions of people lack clean drinking water, and habitat destruction. The speaker argues that human imperfection, illustrated by her own imperfect drawings, gives creation its meaning. She does not call for people to stop using AI, but suggests asking "Do I really need AI for this?" before relying on it. This TEDxGC Negombo Youth talk was independently organized under the TED format.

• AI as a convenient tool that can strip away emotion and effort
• Ethical costs: unlicensed use of artists' work, data center water use, habitat destruction
• Human imperfection as a source of meaning in creation
• Guiding question: "Do I really need AI for this?"

The speaker argues that although AI is a convenient tool, it strips away human emotion and effort, and carries serious ethical costs, including the theft of artists’ work, massive water use by data centers while billions lack clean drinking water, and habitat destruction. She says people ignore these harms because they aren’t yet suffering from them, and that human imperfection, like her own imperfect drawings, is what gives creation its meaning. She doesn’t ask people to stop using AI, only to ask “Do I really need AI for this?” before relying on it, so that the future of humanity doesn’t come at the cost of our humanity. Do I really need AI for this? This talk was given at a TEDx event using the TED conference format but independently organized by a local community. Learn more at https://www.ted.com/tedx