City students debate artificial intelligence

SHILLONG, SEP 2: College and higher secondary school students hotly debated the pros and cons of artificial intelligence (AI) during the 24th Dr MM Das Memorial All Shillong Inter College Debate Competition, 2023, organized by the Zenith Jubelieth Club at Laban here today with the team from St. Edmund’s College bagging the prestigious champion’s trophy.

The motion before the house for the oldest running debate competition in the city today was “Artificial intelligence has redefined the threat perception of human civilization”, which evoked assertive words from both the members of the treasury and the opposition.

“Artificial intelligence has been created by human beings and therefore humans will always remain its master,” was the refrain of one of the debaters from the opposition, who also contended that it was the use of artificial intelligence that led to the success of the Chandrayaan-3 mission.

However, a debater from the treasury bench was of the opinion that artificial intelligence has indeed “redefined” the threat perception as was evident from various instances of its use to the detriment of human ethos, which she cited.

Teams from ten different educational institutions in the city took part in the debate competition, which was witnessed by a sizeable number of enthusiasts, even as the motion was defeated by the house when put to vote by Speaker Professor Sukalpa Bhattacharjee, department of English, North Eastern Hill University (NEHU).

The team from St. Anthony’s College bagged the trophy for the first runner up and the team from St. Edmund’s Higher Secondary School won the trophy for emerging as the second runner up.

The Dr MM Das Memorial Championship Trophy was handed over to the winning team from St. Edmund’s College by retired senior scientist Dr. Piyush Kanti Das.