Why Critical Thinking is Your Secret Weapon in the AI Revolution

The Human Touch in Tech

In a world increasingly influenced by algorithms and automation, three St. Olaf College alumni working at companies on the forefront of the AI revolution share why critical thought is more important than ever.

Artificial Intelligence (AI) is reshaping how people think, work, and connect. From generative chatbots to immersive virtual realities, new tools are arriving at a pace that, at times, feels faster than we can keep up with — and raising as many questions as they answer. For three Oles working in the tech industry, the future of AI isn't an amorphous eventuality, but something they build, test, and grapple with every day.

Cianna Bedford-Petersen: UX Research at Meta

"My job often involves researching ideas or needs of people for a product that doesn't even exist tangibly yet."

Cianna Bedford-Petersen '14 is a user experience researcher at Meta, where she supports the development of the Metaverse across virtual reality and mobile settings. Her work focuses on growing social connections by helping people express their unique identity through virtual avatars and pets.

"AI is playing a big role in the product we're developing," Bedford-Petersen says. "We're utilizing it a lot to make creating new items within the Metaverse accessible to more than just very technically focused developers."

But AI doesn't just enhance products — it's changing how research itself is conducted. "AI automates some of the more repetitive tasks, expands our analysis capabilities, and increases the audiences we can reach," she explains.

The ethics of technology is another extremely important role of a researcher in a tech environment. "Technology is growing at such a rapid rate that legislation cannot always keep up. Researchers take their role very seriously as an advocate for the experiences of the public — we are often the line of defense that understands and advises on best practices for creating safe and healthy online environments."

Somang Han: Data Science at Amazon

"What keeps me going is my ultimate goal of understanding and advancing AI's societal benefits, particularly through building initiatives that help marginalized populations who have limited access to education."

As a data scientist at Amazon, Somang Han '18 builds machine learning and AI-powered tools to solve complex business problems, from debugging code to data collection. She is currently working on developing data-driven Amazon Web Services customer prioritization with AI and machine-learning models.

Han credits her liberal arts education with providing a strong foundation in critical thinking, problem-solving, and interdisciplinary collaboration. "The liberal arts environment encourages curiosity and adaptability, which are essential qualities in a rapidly evolving field like data science," she says.

However, she is wary of potential misuse of the technology. "AI technology raises serious concerns, particularly around automated disinformation campaigns and information authenticity verification. Additionally, there are valid concerns about potential surveillance and social control, depending on who controls and implements these AI systems."

Despite the challenges, she stays grounded by a broader mission. "I view AI as a tool to augment, rather than replace, human capabilities. It's essential to maintain human oversight and ensure AI systems align with human values and societal needs."

Charles Fyfe: Software Engineering at Meta

"I think AI is going to change tech jobs — in the same way that most major developments in the field have."

Charles Fyfe '09 is a software engineer on the messaging infrastructure team at Meta currently working on projects unifying data systems between Facebook and Instagram. His focus isn't on building new features, but on optimizing what's already there.

AI is woven into the tools he uses daily, and he has an appreciation for the ways it can support his work — as well as a skepticism of its limits. "Complex systems like this can fail, and when they fail, they don't fail like a human — they fail in really bizarre ways, and we don't always understand why," Fyfe says.

Still, Fyfe sees AI's potential as an interface — not a replacement. "I think AI might end up being another kind of layer, where it's just a nicer way to interface with the computer."

He's also attuned to how AI may reshape education. "We're going to see that again for writing code and papers, reading and digesting text — there's going to have to be a lot of thinking and trial and error to figure out what we want to teach, and what are young people going to want to learn."

How Different Generations Approach AI

With AI usage, the primary difference noticed is how different age groups approach AI as an evolved search engine versus a thought or skill partner.

• Older users tend to treat AI like an advanced search engine
• Middle generations often use it as a brainstorming tool
• Younger generations adopt AI as a partner that fully supplements a skillset

An emerging example is "vibe coding," where a person interacts with AI to describe a feature or product they'd like to build and AI takes the lead on writing the code.

The Role of Liberal Arts Education

"I am a big believer that a liberal arts education teaches you how to learn, and gives you the flexibility to tackle new challenges," Bedford-Petersen says. "This is critical in a fast-paced industry like tech, where unexplored research questions are continually popping up."

Fyfe emphasizes that having a wide range of skills will be even more important as AI evolves. "If you're interested in computer science and technology, pursue what you love, but prepare for a reality where that isn't enough — you need to have other skills besides being able to code."

Bedford-Petersen notes that one of the biggest misconceptions about the tech industry today is that it's made up entirely of software engineers. "These companies are still full businesses that require a ton of different backgrounds and skillsets to function. Many people who work in tech took really circuitous routes that help them bring a unique perspective to our work."

AI-Generated Imagery

The image at the beginning of this story was created through an intentional collaboration between human creativity and AI. After feeding the article's text into ChatGPT, the creative director worked through a creative conversation to develop and update illustration prompts that captured its spirit.

Final Prompt: A vertical surrealist collage-style illustration using hand-painted textures and paper-cut layers. A human silhouette acts as a window, filled with fragments: binary numbers, avatars, gears, books, and leaves. Around them, AI forms morph playfully — a typewriter turning into a neural network, or a tree sprouting circuit branches.