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AI Is Here ...

By Samantha Mocle | Illustrated by Amanda Beard Garcia

Artificial intelligence. Machine learning. Augmented reality.

Generative. Instructional. Disruptive. Innovative.

The barrage of new technologies (and their affiliated terms) feels endless these days; the impact on everyday life, inevitable. For many, this is exciting: They equate this era of innovation with the early days of the internet; an open landscape of possibility. Others find the limitless potential and lack of regulation overwhelming.

It can be scary to dive into the unknown. And yet, our experts feel assuredly confident that if you aren’t already using AI, you’re falling behind. So, how do we face legitimate fears and stay true to our personal values while simultaneously embracing new technology? Nearly everyone we interviewed had the same advice: start small. Play around. Become comfortable with being adaptable. And, follow your gut and stay informed. Things will continue to change — but so will the world, and so must you. Don’t let yourself become obsolete.

Members of the Lasell community shared with us how they are navigating (and in many cases, embracing) artificial intelligence.

Image of hands texting and receiving information

In the Workplace

“At first I was resistant,” says Julie Lauren ’08. “I learned that you have to embrace it.”

Lauren, a digital marketing strategist and host of the podcast Life Unscripted, worried initially that AI would replace creativity in her field. Now, she views the technology as a collaborative partner. For example, if she comes up with a social media brand strategy, she’ll filter the plan through ChatGPT for feedback before it goes to the client.

“AI isn’t coming up with the ideas, but it is double checking them,” she says, adding that she also uploads examples of her work so that the results are tailored to match her creative voice.

Varshitha Manjunath, assistant professor of cybersecurity, has used AI in her field to help develop malware-detecting code. She believes that AI has a role in creating a more secure future. “There is a huge amount of data generated online and it has to be monitored; AI helps cybersecurity professionals stay one step ahead of data breaches and leaks,” she says.

She notes how critical it is in data-dependent industries to match the speed of AI’s development.

“Hackers can use AI, too. Their attacks will get more sophisticated as they learn how to use AI for phishing and other scams,” she says. Proactivity is a necessity, she asserts, in protecting sensitive information and systems. It’s not just about getting on board, but about learning how to leverage AI against itself when it lands in the wrong hands.

Ben Segal ’09 has worked in customer service for nearly 15 years. He’s developed chat bots, trained call center employees, and now advises brands on how they can implement cutting-edge technology to create efficiencies. He explains that compared to chat bots, AI offers a much more human customer-service experience.

“You can teach AI your brand voice and give the customer a kinder, friendlier interaction that is different every time,” he says, noting that chat bots are built on templated answers that respond to keywords. AI, in comparison, learns with each interaction and does a better job of handling rote inquiries. In turn, that allows customer service agents to focus on problems that AI has deemed worthy of further triage and gives agents (and customers) relief from heavy call volume and long wait times. To that end, Segal notes that he has not seen jobs taken away from people as a result of AI; rather, he has seen an evolution in the types of roles being hired for.

Will Tetreault ’16 agrees — he’s a tax accountant at BerryDunn and has observed a shift in the industry.

“AI is helping with a lot of tasks that used to be manual, repetitive work (like data entry). So now, entry-level work moves to a higher level. Instead of entering numbers into a spreadsheet, you can analyze them,” he says. “It’s a value-add. AI isn’t taking jobs; it’s elevating them.”

At the same time, he is very aware that AI has unforeseen implications.

“As with anything related to technology, you need rules of engagement,” he says, adding that it is important to use a closed-source system when dealing with sensitive information. Tetreault also encourages wary users to remember that AI doesn’t work without human input.

“It’s all about learning. People can be wrong, and so can AI,” he says, noting that a trained accountant will recognize a flawed spreadsheet output, but an untrained eye might not see those issues. That’s important to remember when considering whether AI renders human knowledge obsolete; Tetreault feels strongly that it does not.

Maeve Willerup ’24 is a program coordinator at Break Through Tech AI at MIT; participants in the program take courses in machine learning, studio design, and more to prepare for robust STEM careers. To her, AI offers a chance for burgeoning leaders to shape the future.

“AI creates way more opportunity than what meets the eye,” she says. “It doesn’t just represent innovation, but is a way to create tools that reshape and improve industries.”

Illustration of a human brain and AI intelligence sharing information

In the Classroom

As a brainstorming partner, generative AI platforms have proven a helpful tool for Lasell faculty and students. Brian Wardyga, professor of communication, reimagined his First-Year Seminar course by exchanging and refining ideas with ChatGPT. Even those that missed the mark, he says, helped spark his creativity in developing new class activities.

“The result was a dynamic and collaborative learning environment,” he says.

Kurt Wirth, assistant professor of communication, tried a different approach in his classes. He’s utilized a self-described “upside-down” model in which he provides AI prompts for his students to explore on a particular topic. To him, the exercise evolves static learning into something much more interactive.

“With AI, they can actively engage with topics, ask questions when they’re confused, ask for information to be presented in a different way, and genuinely get a 360-degree view of the subject,” he says.

Manjunath takes a similar approach in her cybersecurity courses. “I use AI to combine theory and practical insights,” she says. “Some of the concepts I teach, like deep learning and machine learning, can be difficult to understand.” She uses AI to generate stories and images to help students learn through different modalities.

Kellie Wallace, associate professor of criminal justice, welcomed AI in her classroom as an opportunity to improve student writing. She used Packback, an instructional AI platform that provides guidance on how to create a specific product — in this case, a 25-page APA paper on a criminal justice topic. Ultimately, she says, the students create the final product on their own (unlike with generative AI, which provides the product based on prompts).

“It was a positive experience for the class, and their writing markedly improved,” she says.

Evie Crudele ’25 has also used ChatGPT and Google Gemini to “spitball ideas” and to suggest sources for her senior thesis. But she doesn’t enjoy using those generative platforms as a regular part of her coursework, especially where creative work is concerned. In her experience, people have become too reliant on AI and abuse its power. She also has concerns about environmental impact and sustainability.

Parker Small, a career immunologistp and educator, sees an opportunity to enhance student collaboration. Small is a Lasell Village resident and founder of Lasell’s Collaboration Recognition Program (CRP), which provides students a platform to nominate their peers for outstanding class collaboration. With CRP implemented in more than 25 Lasell undergraduate classes, Small has his eyes set on a new goal: incorporating AI into the process.

“It’s the most powerful tool that mankind has probably ever developed,” he says. “It seems to me that every Lasell graduate should be skilled in using it for a variety of tasks.”

Village resident Sue Bottigheimer uses AI for a different kind of collaboration; she runs the Village’s low-vision group and employs Google AI to learn about the issues her peers face.

“It is particularly useful because those AI overviews provide one-sentence summaries of scholarly articles from the National Institutes of Health,” says Bottigheimer, a literary scholar and former professor of English at Stony Brook University. “I can go deeper into the subject if I want, but that initial summary helps scaffold the topic to build my understanding.”

She, like Crudele, wonders about the impact of AI on creativity. A friend wrote a novel in Farsi that, to Bottigheimer, was seamlessly translated into English using AI. “What I have seen so far is that this kind of technology is good at manipulating existing information,” she says. For story creation, she’s not so sure: “Only time will tell.”

Illustration of dinner ingredients

In Everyday Life

Not ready to incorporate AI applications into your professional or academic life? Lauren suggests starting small, “nothing serious,” to see how platforms like ChatGPT can enhance your creativity and efficiency.

“You can take a picture of your pantry or refrigerator and ask AI what you should make for dinner with those ingredients,” she suggests.

Domenick Catino ’27, an entertainment media major, doesn’t like the implications of generative AI on video creation — he’s hoping to become a producer or video editor — but does appreciate that a platform like ChatGPT can offer unbiased opinions. He’s used it to evaluate character performance in video games and corroborate his own analyses. Wardyga does something similar; after watching a movie or completing a video game, he’ll share his thoughts with ChatGPT and ask it to compare those with other opinions. “It helps open my mind to alternative perspectives,” he says.

Wardyga also likes to input questions that he knows will have aggregate answers from a number of sources. “I’ll ask things like, ‘Is it safe to use diluted Cetaphil on my eyelashes?’ or ‘Should I put a potted calla lily outdoors during the winter?’”

Manjunath enjoys using AI functions in Canva, a graphic design program, to generate posters and other content for her yoga practice. She also uses ChatGPT to increase efficiency: In preparing for a trip to Yosemite National Park, she was overwhelmed by the amount of information on Google — plus, she only had one day to sightsee. ChatGPT helped her narrow down her itinerary.

No matter how you use AI, says Tetreault, it is important to know that those uses exist. “Don’t be changeresistant. Everyone else will still be moving forward.”

That doesn’t mean you need to completely abandon any hesitations. AI represents a new world of opportunity, but much of it still borders on the unknown.

“I firmly believe that AI is going to be part of our daily life whether we want it or not,” says Segal. “It’s likee the internet. You can’t avoid the internet, and those who were fearful and dismissed it entirely during its development were left in the dust and struggle with common technology today. AI will be just as omnipresent, so why not be involved and be part of that process?”

Perks and drawbacks will ebb and flow, and it’s ok to draw a (flexible) line as to what you’re comfortable with … for now. But don’t completely write it off — much like the wheel, the light bulb, steam engines, the internet, and social media before it, AI is here to stay.

Read more about Lasell's new Augmented Reality/Virtual Reality Lab here.