The Paterno Fellows Program is pleased to announce this year’s Collegiate Laws of Life Essay Contest. This year’s prompt revolves around the timely topic of the use of artificial intelligence (AI):
The creeping progress of artificial intelligence places the notion of the human in crisis. For there are many things which AI already does better and more efficiently than humans, and it is increasingly easy to imagine a world in which machines are better diagnosticians than doctors; wittier than comedians; more eloquent than writers and journalists; wiser than philosophers, sages, and religious leaders. Indeed, it is even possible to imagine AI bots that are better friends, parents, and lovers than humans. In such a world, it is tempting to wonder: what is left for human endeavor? Why insist, for instance, that articles, books, and films be written by humans, when AI can do it faster, cheaper, and better?
In your essay, consider the place of the human in the world of technological progress. What must remain untouched by technological progress? Or is there no place: are humans to accept the advance of AI as a replacement? If so, is this to the benefit or detriment of humanity?
First Prize: $500, Second Prize: $400, Third Prize: $300
Essays are due Friday, March 7, 2025 at 11:59 p.m. EST