Over the past year, Artificial Intelligence (AI) has become an everyday part of our lives. Whether it’s asking ChatGPT a question or watching AI generated videos, most of us have become used to the concept and do not even register the damage these things can do. However, some people are fed up with this normalization, and are wanting to help spread awareness. Emily and Anna Kim are students at Carmel High School who took charge and started a petition to help combat the ignorance of AI usage. They had seen fellow students and community members be affected by a lack of information surrounding AI, and wished to put a stop to it. 

The petition has a simple and clear goal to help label AI. It wants to institute a “Stoplight System” to alert viewers of the level of AI used in making the content they are consuming. The system aims to use green, yellow, and red emojis, hence the “Stoplight” name. Creators will institute one of these emojis based on the amount of AI they used. Using a green emoji tells users that AI was only used for small things in post production, such as creating captions. A yellow emoji signifies the creator used AI for more things, like creating a voiceover or background. The red emoji lets users know that the content is fully AI generated, with no human involvement whatsoever. 

This petition does not wish to fully eliminate the usage of AI in our lives, it simply wants to give users a heightened awareness of the impacts of AI and alert them of the amount of AI they consume. The cause is getting attention across California, with the signatures sitting at about 430 out of the 500 needed. Many people have voiced their support for the petition, leaving comments sharing their own experiences with this issue. 

Whether you are against AI or for it, it’s clear that this petition tackles a real and pressing issue. As our society becomes used to AI, it is important for efforts like these to remind us of the potential consequences and make a change for the better.