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Experts say Maine is in a good position to ride this AI “boom, but there are also concerns about its misuse.
Experts say Maine is in a good position to ride this AI “boom, but there are also concerns about its misuse.
Experts say Maine is in a good position to ride this AI “boom, but there are also concerns about its misuse.
Before the age of AI models being in the hands of millions of consumers, AI has had a turbulent history of becoming popular and then falling to the wayside. Richard Wallace, a Maine native who is most recognizable for his work with chatbots, says this time it might be here to stay.
“I think of it like the .com boom of 2000. There were tons of startup companies that came into existence, Pets.com, all those kind of things. And then they went bust when the bubble burst, but the thing is, the technology remains,” Wallace said. “What I’m saying is I think there could be a bust in the AI boom, it’ll be a financial bust, but the technology will be ongoing and preserved.”
Time magazine is recognizing the impact AI has had on the world, naming the “Architects of AI” as its Person of the Year. The list includes big names in the tech world, like Mark Zuckerberg, Elon Musk and Sam Altman.
This isn’t the first time Time has named multiple people for Person of the Year. In 2017, it was “The Silence Breakers” in the #MeToo movement, and in 2006, it was “You,” representing digital content creators in a rapidly growing online world.
The magazine said it’s not an award, rather a way of recognizing the impact the person has had on the world.
“Pretty much every company out there is trying to do something with AI to put it into their product, or somehow market it, or use it in various ways,” Wallace said. “Companies in Maine are interested in doing that, too. “
Wallace created the chatbot ALICE.
“I won an award in the year 2000 for having the most human computer. Of course, back then, none of the AIs could actually pass the Turing test,” he said.
Unlike language-learning models like ChatGPT, Wallace had to manually tell ALICE what to respond with when users entered a message. Conversations were recorded, and using that data, he could create more responses to different scenarios.
With the field rapidly growing, students coming to Maine can pursue a master’s in artificial intelligence at the Roux Institute. At the University of Maine, staff members are looking to bring AI into the curriculum.
“We are developing credentials on AI literacy that all of our students can take,” said Giovanna Guidoboni, a dean at University of Maine’s College of Engineering and Computing.
Guidoboni said Maine is in a good position to ride this AI “boom.”
“The fundamental ingredient that is necessary for AI to work is connection and connectivity among the different pools of data. Maine is big, and yet it is relatively small, and people are already connected,” Guidoboni said.
However, as the technology develops, experts are concerned about how it has been and could be misused.
The potential of a data center being built in Wiscasset caused concerns for residents earlier this year.
According to the National Conference of State Legislatures, 22 AI-related bills were introduced to Maine’s legislature this year, compared to just two in 2024.
“There is also a whole other aspect about ethics, about policy, that requires conversations informed by science, but also go beyond that,” Guidoboni said.
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