New artificial intelligence policies are being mandated in schools all across the United States. But what is artificial intelligence or AI? Let's talk about it. Artificial intelligence is a series of computers linked together to search each other for information and create new information. The internet is a series of computers connected together, physically connected. Did you know that there are deep sea cables running through the ocean? Yeah, they connect the internet to places like Australia. Not everything is Wi-Fi. There has to be a physical component, such as saving something to the cloud is just saving it on someone else's physical computer, and thus giving someone else access to whatever you have saved there. Artificial intelligence uses both of those things to its advantage. It's a lot of computers that look through a lot of data on other computers and come to conclusions. Here's what you need to know there is a physical side to artificial intelligence. This computing is normally done in a bank of computers called a data center. And computers or data centers need a lot of energy. Remember that first law of thermodynamics that energy can't be created or destroyed, only transferred? Yep, that applies to computers and artificial intelligence as well. It takes a lot of computing power or energy to search the whole of the internet or a large bank of computers. And when that energy transfers through a physical computer, it creates heat. The computer needs to be cooled, and there are several different ways that this is done. One way is called a closed loop water system. This is running water around the computers to cool them and then having that now warm water cooled at a different location and then brought back to the computers as cold water. Basically, cold water to warm water to cold water to warm water. Round and round it goes. Another way is running air through the ground and having the computers cooled by the earth. But no matter how you do it, it does create artificial levels of heat. The trade-off for the knowledge of the entire earth is heat. If you are wondering how artificial intelligence comes up with its answers, it uses what is called reasoning. Here's what IBM had to say about that. Quote: Reasoning in artificial intelligence refers to the mechanism of using available information to generate predictions, make inferences, and draw conclusions. It involves representing data in a form that a machine can process and understand, then applying logic to arrive at a decision. AI has also been known to create false models to fill in gaps that it sees in data. Basically, there's a hole in the information that it has, so it makes something up to fill that hole. Those who have designed and done the framework for AI have openly talked about its unreliability in giving straight answers in certain situations. Well, there are pros and cons to the use of AI in daily life. One of the things that it can do very well is look at a lot of data all at once and analyze it. Something that would take humans hours and hours to do can be done quite quickly with artificial intelligence. Here are some other facts that we know about AI so far. AI is only as good as the information that's fed into it. Incorrect information or opinions fed to AI as fact become a fact for AI. A computer does not have ethics or feelings or discernment. Next, the computing power needed for artificial intelligence requires water. Next, the computing power needed for artificial intelligence normally requires water. According to scientists at the University of California Riverside, each 100-word AI prompt is estimated to use roughly one bottle of water, or 519 milliliters. This may not sound like a lot, but there are billions of AI users worldwide who enter prompts into systems like ChatGPT every minute. It's billions of gallons of water every day. And finally, the ability to critical think is impacted by a person's use of AI. Recent studies, like those done by MIT and Harvard, have reported that excessive reliance on AI-driven solutions may contribute to cognitive atrophy. Basically, the ability to critically think is impacted by a person's use of AI. These studies also show that those who rely heavily on artificial intelligence for certain tasks, such as writing or critical thinking, again lose their ability to critically think on their own. I heard it explained once that AI can only look back while humanity looks forward. How you choose to integrate artificial intelligence in your daily life is up to you. The goal is to simply not lose your humanity in the process. I'm Aimi Fotz, and this has been Five Minutes Smarter with Hello from the Van.