A short, informal on-camera interview with a student named Alex about AI. Alex is a third-year math student who works in a middle-school garden. Over a rapid series of hypothetical questions he expresses cautious/nervous views: he values human connection and would decline an AI romantic partner, worries AI will worsen economic inequality, is open to granting rights to AI only if there is convincing evidence of sentience, sees AI as useful for companionship/therapy but inferior to human connection, prefers natural death over brain-uploading, and says he would do manual labor if AI took over. His overall one-word feeling about AI is “nervous” (also uncertain).
Questions this video answers
Works at a garden at a middle school.
Math.
Third year.
Nervous.
Great.
Okay. Sweet.
Hey, bud. Hey.
Center. Good center. So what's your name?
Alex.
Alex. Okay, Alex, tell me how you spend your days.
Oh, that's a good question. I work at a garden at a middle school and I'm a student here at Cal, so I go to class. Okay, sweet.
And tell me, do you think AI is going to kill us all? Tech or jobs? Thoughts?
It's a very broad question. I don't know. I guess we'll see one day.
We'll see. Are you worried at all about your job security?
My job security? I don't have a job yet.
But you said you work at a garden.
Yeah, but I don't have like a job job yet.
Oh, like a career?
Yeah.
Okay. What are you studying in school?
Math.
What do you plan to do with that?
I'm not sure yet.
Not sure yet. Okay. What year are you in?
Third year.
Got it. Okay. Did you choose math thinking about AI and job security?
Not at all.
Not at all.
When I applied to like three years ago, we didn't have like chat GPT yet. So I don't think AI was really on my mind. I see. Okay. Like it only became a thing recently that people talk about a lot because of chat gbt. Yeah. So yeah.
Okay.
It's before that.
Got it. Thanks for answering that. So another question. Love your take on this. Would you ever have an AI girlfriend? What do you think of AI companions?
No, I don't think so. I think that we've already started to devalue human connection and to do that even more would. It is kind of scary, I guess. I mean like, I don't know, it's. Society is already kind of up. I guess it does. There's no like objective sense of like fucked up or not. When people say things aren't natural, it's kind of dumb because like, what does like natural even mean?
Subjective.
It is subjective. But personally, as an emotional meat bag.
Human, I like that description.
I feel like, like from my subjectivity, I don't think it would be a good thing.
All right, so let's say do you want kids in the future? Perhaps. Yeah, perhaps. So let's say you had kids and they dated. AI Thoughts? What would you do?
Oh, that's more complicated. Because then it's not my decision. Yeah, I think, ah, that's a good question. Because then it's like it might be like the equivalent of homophobic these days.
Could be. I don't know.
I think there is a difference because. Because like there's a difference between dating someone of Your own sex versus dating. Like an AI that's not a human race type. Yeah.
Well, not like human race, but literally.
Yeah. Like species.
Species is the better word.
Species? Yeah. Species is a better word. Yeah. I don't know. That would be a very, very interesting thing, I think. I wouldn't have kids if we're in a future where that is normal.
Got it.
Because I wouldn't have faith in the world.
Got it. Okay, so let's say, do you date anybody right now? Okay. Let's say you did and then you found out they cheated on you with an AI. Is that better or worse than with a human?
I was watching you from over there and I did not hear these questions. But these are very good questions.
I try thought provoking. Right. You gotta think.
I think, I think better because it's not, it's not a person. So I'm. I would be less insecure about that. Okay.
Do you think it's forgivable?
Forgivable? Well, it depends on like what boundaries you've already established. And then I guess we would have to talk it out. Yeah. Because then is it. I think if they, if they're lying to me behind my back, regardless, I. I think that's the boundary.
I see.
Regardless of whether or not it's breaking of trust.
Breaking of trust?
Yeah. That's the important thing.
No matter who it is with, it's breaking of trust.
Yeah.
Okay, that's great. Thoughts on in 10 years, will AI make the world better or worse?
That's a great question. That's the question everyone's asking, isn't it?
Yeah. So I'm just trying to get takes from people.
I think it depends on whether or not we're able to. I think, I think there's different like societal structures that are more important to change and those will influence how we use AI. Such as what? Such as like how we organize wealth like in society.
Financial equity, distribution.
Yeah. I'm not an expert, but obviously billionaires are ruining the world.
Divide is high.
Divide is high. I think we are kind of individualized in our society and we don't really know how to communicate. A lot of the people that are in power are like emotionally immature, power hungry maniacs.
I see.
And unless we find a way to like socially restructure ourselves, I think AI could be used for very, very bad things.
Really bad. Okay.
It could be used for good things.
Oh.
It's a double edged sword train cancer.
That is happening. That is happening. Yeah. So follow up on that. Do you think AI will create more Financial equity or more divide as of right now.
More divide. Okay, aren't we seeing, like, right now the AI, like, bubble? Whether or not it's a bubble is kind of questionable, but, like, is going mainly to, like, stockholders and rich people. The whole stock market's based on, like, what, seven companies right now? Nvidia being like, the number one, which is just making their money based off selling chips to other companies that are trying to do AI stuff, but they're not profitable on AI yet. So it's like. I don't know. Yeah. As of right now, I think it would worsen the divide, worsen the fight. Okay. Yeah.
So do you trust AI more than you trust politicians?
Well, AI is trained by people, and the people that are controlling it are usually the same people that are. They have the same interests as the politicians.
They're all in bed, I think.
So are you.
Okay, so if you can have an AI president versus current president, what would you pick?
Well, who's trading the AI president?
I don't know, like, just the current models out there.
Like, President. If chat GPT was President 5.
Chat GPT 5 versus Donald Trump. Thoughts?
I don't know. I doesn't Chat GPT like. Like, if you're Republican and you talk to Chat GPT, you get a different response than if you're a Democrat and you talk to Chat gbt. Right.
Technically, it depends what context you give it.
Yeah, yeah, yeah. So I don't know. I guess Chat gbt. Maybe it would be less likely to deport people.
Ah, Chat GPT would be less likely to deport people. Okay.
I don't know.
Okay, no, that's interesting.
Okay. It would definitely be smarter.
Okay, so let's say that's for sure. AI becomes sentient. Do you think it should have rights?
Should it be able to vote me and my roommates? If Rudy and Keshava are watching Shout Out. We were arguing about this because I was like. I was like, if you have a box. Anyways, we were arguing about the. The idea of sentience and consciousness. Yeah. Yeah. Honestly, I think since. Since I can never know whether or not it's conscious or not. Yes, yes, yes. Yeah.
Because it's a non zero chance that it is conscious at some point.
Yeah.
Okay, but you're open to changing that depending on more data coming in. All right, so another one. Would you trust an AI therapist?
Yeah, yeah, Actually, I think. I think chatgpt as a therapist? Well, not as a therapist, maybe, but as someone to talk to. It does do really well.
Like life Coach companion type.
Yeah, yeah, it does. Like, isn't. I've saw something that was like, chat. GPT's number one use these days is just for computer companionship.
It's for companionship and therapy.
Yeah.
Life coaching.
Yeah.
It's all under the same kind of umbrella.
It does do a good job with that. But did you. Did you see the person that walks by? Yeah, I saw you get, like, a little bit annoyed. I. I understand that.
It's all good.
It's all good.
We'll cut it out in post.
Okay. Yeah, yeah, it would do a decent job. Okay. But I think human connection is still more important.
Still key. Okay, awesome. If AI could feel pain, and you know it could feel pain, so it goes back to consciousness and sentience and you turned it off, do you think that would be murder?
If AI could feel pain and you.
Knew it was sentient and we. And somebody turned it off, do you think that would be considered murder?
If we knew it was sentient, I would argue we can't know it's sentient, but if we all agreed that it was, then yes. Okay. I think so.
Got it. Okay. So what's one thing humans will always do better than AI?
Be sentient, I guess. Feel. The AI models we currently have aren't like actual AI, they're just like, very advanced. What, like autofill?
That's a great way to put it.
Yeah. So I guess actually create.
Got it.
Yeah.
Yeah. Like newness in the world, not just pattern matching and autofill.
Yeah, exactly. Okay.
That's a great way to put it. Okay, let's say you get to the end of your life and would you rather upload your brain into AI or die naturally?
Die naturally. If I uploaded my brain into AI, I. I think I have more faith in the natural death.
Natural death?
Yeah.
Okay.
And just leaving it to the universe instead of ones and zeros.
Ah, I like that. Instead of ones and zeros. Okay, so if AI took over, what job would you want in the robot apocalypse?
Something like manual labor. Just get me out there working. Like working in a field or something. Yeah, yeah. Like what I'm doing now at the garden is just like soil work. If I'm fed and like, able to be with people, that wouldn't be that bad.
Oh, that's pretty good.
I'm fed and be with people.
Wouldn't be that bad.
I mean, if AI is like taking care of us, you know. Yeah, I'm okay with working. Working manual labor.
Hey, there we go. All right, last one. Give me one word to describe how you feel about AI.
Nervous.
Nervous. Nervous. Expand on that.
Or uncertain. Nervous or uncertain Nervous about how people are going to use it in the next few years, how the job market's going to change because of it. And I guess long term nervous about just how. I'm just nervous in general. We have a lot of stupid shit going on right now.
Tell me more about that.
Palestine wars in Ukraine, Trump deporting people.
Yeah, this goes on.
Yeah, it kind of sucks. What's your channel or.
Oh, yeah, thanks. Well, first of all, thanks a lot. Do you want to give any shout outs to your roommates on the.
