Taryn Southern Gives AI Pitch to Hutchinson at Dillon Lecture Series

By Torie Price
Opinion Page Editor
IG: torielprice

Taryn Southern, a Wichita native and advocate for the use of artificial intelligence, spoke at the latest installment of the Dillon Lecture Series on Tuesday at the Sports Arena.

Southern describes herself as a creative with many outlets. She was an early YouTuber, making more than 1,500 videos over the course of 10 years.

“At that time, it was the Wild, Wild West of content creation,” she said. 

These skills that she learned through her passion for content creation would later lead her to her true calling.

Southern said she believes that AI can and should be used by people in creative spaces so they can spend less time on the technical aspects and more time on what they are truly passionate about.

Southern put this into practice in her own life by creating her 2018 album ‘I Am AI,’ using AI to compose and create the music behind her vocals. 

After a failed run on “American Idol,” Southern did not sing for 15 years. 

Southern describes AI as “a tool that allows us to spark new ideas, to remove friction, and to bypass the voice in our head that says we’re not good enough.” 

AI is sometimes seen as the easy way out, but Southern disagrees. She said that people should learn the “raw skills of writing, of critical thinking, of problem solving. So that when they use AI, they become a tastemaker.

“A lot of students who have grown up now depend on AI to do all of the work for them, and it’s like a slot machine where they just press a button, and boom, it pops out.” 

But Southern also argues for the responsible use of AI to enhance one’s work rather than doing it for them. 

Amber Carithers, an English instructor at HutchCC, said her opinion on AI is that it can be a tool used in the classroom when used properly and with clear boundaries. 

She describes tasks that may be enhanced by AI, such as “brainstorming ideas, clarifying concepts, improving grammar, or building vocabulary, especially for English language learners.”

“The writing process is where students develop their critical thinking, their ability to analyze, and their own voice, and that’s something AI just can’t do for them.” 

AI may seem overwhelming to some. When clear boundaries are placed on what is acceptable and not in regard to the use of AI, the quality of work rises and the time it takes to produce it lowers, as Southern has said.

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