Much like other institutions across Canada, TRU has been faced with the impossible task of adapting against the backdrop of artificial intelligence. From discussions of academic integrity in the lecture hall to major developments of infrastructure like the infamous data centres, there is certainly no shortage of intrigue or questions.The technology remains a contentious subject as scholars and students alike question its unrealized potential. The Omega took to the Campus to ask the community how AI technology has shaped their lives, education and prospective futures.
Ω Could you describe how AI works, for instance, the mechanics behind data centres or algorithmic learning?
Grey Edwards, Biology – I [do not] know a lot about it. I’m aware that it’s causing a lot of problems environmentally and it’s being used a lot to cause deepfakes and stuff.
Chloe Zaharia, Nursing – I don’t know a lot about it, but I know that it’s becoming way more common.
Diego, Business – I think AI is a tool that can help us to clarify ideas, and can help us organize ourselves.
Elizabeth, Biology – I don’t know a lot about it, but a lot of people use artificial intelligence, generative-AI, and ChatGPT and such to help with assignments or to look up certain things. [AI] is kind of replacing Google in our current culture. It’s definitely been used and promoted a lot more as a tool, especially through social media as a way to get rich through side hustles like creating websites.
Nakeef, Tourism – I don’t think I can give an accurate definition of what AI is, but I guess I would say it is a computerized technology that helps with researching stuff and getting deeper into subjects we don’t know.
Dipesh, Engineering – I don’t know much about the infrastructure, but how we use it, I think as students we use it a lot, especially things like Gemini and ChatGPT [which are] really fast ways to get information compared to a normal search engine like Google.
Ω Fact: Broadly, artificial intelligence (AI) enables machines to mimic human thinking and decision-making processes. There are several types of AI, differing in design, purpose and output. Machine learning, the AI most are familiar with, includes chatbots like ChatGPT and Claude, and learns from algorithms and pre-existing information. Compared to standard search engines like Google, AI-Chatbots are easily customized and trained by each individual user which allows the technology to remember searches, prompts and the information of its user. Another key difference between search engines and machine-learning AI is the amount of energy required to sustain the technology. In fact, one AI search consumes ten times the energy of a standard Google search.
Ω What are your thoughts and feelings about the University adopting the use of AI?
Edwards – I’m really not a fan, because I feel like AI kind of kills creativity and knowledge and the need to actually think… I think certain AI’s that are used to find disease and cancers, I think those are a good use of AI.
Dipesh – Personally, I did not really care actually. I just used AI because it helped me with a lot of work and assignments. Understanding concepts, which was harder to get from a textbook. Not knowing [how the technology] works, I think it would be really helpful if we knew how it works.
Diego – It’s good how [TRU] is implementing all the AI stuff, but I think they could do a bit better. They could explain to students the ways we can use it, because sometimes it [is not] clear.
Ω Fact: TRU has expressed interest in the technology, and reports have suggested the university’s goal of constructing of two megawatt data centres on its properties. The first is currently under construction at 1452 McGill Road, and is projected to be operational by 2027. The project is in collaboration with Bell Canada’s Bell AI Fabric, a project which vows to strengthen the Country’s economy and protect its digital infrastructure. Another TRU initiative, horAIzon, outlines the University’s stated commitment to ethical and responsible AI-usage, and lays out its ‘AI values’, which the university has claimed is based in Secwépemc worldviews.
Ω How is the technology being used in your daily life? Is AI being used in your classes?
Zaharia – [I have] seen some use [of AI] come up in making either practice questions or to help with PowerPoints. Then even at the hospital, doctors use AI when they’re transcribing notes.
McKenna Craig, Nursing – I definitely use [AI]. I try not to use it as much for work, but for ideas or budgeting I use it a lot.
Nakeef – In [tourism] we talk about it a lot. We talk about how it can help us with research, articles that would normally take us a long time to read. It also makes images and posters, really anything we need to create.
Ω Are you aware of the AI data centres that are being built in Kamloops?
Zaharia – I’ve heard about it through a couple of my friends, but before that I didn’t even know it was a thing and now I’m like, ‘why the heck do we need this here?’ I think [the data centres] will look like a big, ugly building and I’m not sure where. Some people have said that it’s that thing they are building in front of Old Main.
Nakeef – I know that in order for AI to exist in certain places, there has to be a large amount of data centres. But from a tourism perspective, it affects my industry because if the environment is damaged it means there is less to show people at this specific destination.
Sierra Taylor, Police and Justice Studies – I have heard about it, but I don’t know much. I know a lot of people thought that the [Powerhouse] building was the data centre. I thought that last year during the construction, and I was like ‘why would they put that in the middle of campus?’
Ω Fact: The TRU Powerhouse, or Low-Carbon District Energy System (LCDES), which recently completed construction, is certainly not a data centre. Rather, the LCDES has replaced the University’s old natural gas boilers with a sustainable electrical heating alternative, in another step towards the university’s net-zero commitments.
However, Kamloops is a highly-sought out location for data centres given the arid and dry climate. Data centres take a significant amount of energy to maintain a consistent and safe temperature and vary in design. Currently, Kamloops is proposing closed-loop data centres, which will retain and circulate freshwater, only requiring one single fill of water prior to operation. Although closed-loop designs are meant to decrease the freshwater draw of the data centre, it will still emit heat-energy waste. TRU has suggested that the excess heat will be channeled into heating buildings on-campus in the winter, though there has yet to be a statement on how the excess-heat will impact the city during wildfire season.
AI technology continues to rapidly evolve, which is why conversations regarding sustainability, safety and responsible use are integral. TRU has furthered its stances on issues of AI sovereignty and implementation, and to that end has taking great leaps in policy and infrastructure; yet many students remain in the dark about what any of it means, what it will do for them, and what the costs truly are.