PITTSFIELD, Mass. — Artificial intelligence was the hot topic on WTBR’s Morning Drive program Thursday, December 18, as host Shawn Serre welcomed two local tech experts for an in-depth conversation on the rapidly evolving technology and its potential impact on everything from jobs and education to privacy and public policy.
Joining Serre in the studio were Gerol Petruzella, a Technology Consultant at Williams College, and Samuel Pascual, Digital Navigator at Pittsfield Community Television. The wide-ranging discussion covered both the promise and the perils of AI, with both guests offering informed—and often cautionary—perspectives.
From Science Fiction to Daily Life
Petruzella began by grounding the conversation in history, noting that AI has been a subject of academic interest since at least 1956. “We sort of had a conception of what it would mean for a machine… to be able to engage with information and language in the complex sorts of ways that we humans do,” he explained. But what once felt like distant science fiction is now embedded in our daily lives.
What separates the current wave of AI—particularly generative AI like ChatGPT—from older technologies is its ability to produce new content rather than simply process data. “Now we’re in the era of generative AI,” Petruzella said. “ChatGPT broke that open… and now there’s kind of an open war going on between competing companies” trying to develop the most powerful models.
A New Digital Divide
For Pascual, who works closely with residents navigating the digital world, the current moment feels urgent. “We’re already sort of in a place where it’s a real advantage to someone today to have some experience with AI,” said Petruzella, predicting that within five years, a working knowledge of AI will be a basic expectation in the job market.
That presents challenges for people re-entering the workforce or those with limited digital access. “It’s not just that,” Pascual said. “It’s also like all the different systems that government institutions are now requiring people to have online accounts for.” The intersection of AI, access, and equity is becoming more apparent, he noted.
AI and the Future of Work
The conversation took a sobering turn when Serre raised concerns about AI displacing jobs. “This is a technology that has a lot of serious potential to radically displace a lot of the assumptions that our economy has been operating on,” said Petruzella. “The economy has only ever really been operating on humans… and this could take a human out of the economy and slot in a non-human.”
Pascual added that while automation might eliminate tedious jobs, it also challenges society to reevaluate what is uniquely human. “If all that competition is gone at the base level because we have AI… what are we going to actually do?” he asked. “Are we going to start thinking, ‘Well, what is valuable in humans?’”
Truth, Trust, and AI
One of the most complex topics of the morning was the erosion of trust in information. “Quite frankly, right now, we can’t know [what’s real] with the degree of certainty that we would like,” Petruzella warned, noting that many social media posts and even news articles may be AI-generated. Serre added, “There’s no disclaimer anywhere that says this article is written with AI.”
As Pascual put it, “Now it’s like, how do we make sure that as we’re entering AI, are we scrutinizing people for the same things that we’ve been doing?”
Education in the Age of AI
Both guests emphasized that education will need to evolve. “These are the conversations that are happening right now,” Petruzella said. “Questions of academic honesty and skill development.” Pascual compared the moment to when Wikipedia was introduced: “Yes, you can use Wikipedia, but you need to look at the sources… It’s going to be the same thing with AI.”
Some schools, they noted, are already experimenting with AI tutors, using technology to deliver personalized education while freeing up teachers for more human-centered learning.
Unintended Consequences
The guests also highlighted some of the less visible consequences of AI’s rapid expansion. Petruzella explained that the massive energy demands of AI could drive up electricity costs for everyone. “Running AI takes astonishing amounts of compute power,” he said. Pascual noted that data centers needed to support AI are being built near critical natural resources like the Great Lakes, raising environmental concerns.
Another ripple effect is the global shortage of computer memory chips. “The memory recently has tripled in cost,” said Serre, pointing out that future demand—rather than current supply—has already inflated prices.
The Ethics and Bias of AI
As the conversation wrapped up, Serre asked how much bias might already be baked into AI systems. Petruzella was direct: “These models are trained based on huge quantities of human-generated data… and we know from our own lived experience that [human content] reflects different types of biases.”
Intentional bias is also a concern. “These are companies… they have an interest in profit,” he said, warning of a future where answers are shaped by advertising dollars or political agendas.
Final Thoughts
Pascual concluded that the most important thing he can do as a digital navigator is to “make people feel like they have a way to at least find out how to learn for themselves what AI is doing and where it’s going.”
Petruzella agreed, saying it’s up to communities to “make sure that this technology does not sort of run ahead of us, and we lose control.”
Serre ended the show with a note of gratitude and anticipation for a follow-up conversation: “Each one of these things, you could definitely do an in-depth conversation with.”
Editor’s Note: This article is based on the December 18, 2025 broadcast of WTBR’s “Morning Drive” and was written in part using ChatGPT (ironically). To view the entire program, visit https://pittsfieldtv.org/program/?id=54998. WTBR’s “Morning Drive” airs weekdays at 7:30 a.m. on 89.7 FM in Pittsfield and 88.1 in Lee; and is simulcast on Access Pittsfield channel 1301. The full interview is available to view through PCTV Select.
