My paragraph:
Amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, also known as ALS is a genetic disease that affects very few people. To summarize what I researched, this disease, ALS, is also known as Lou Gehrig’s disease, named after a famous baseball player whose career it ended. It is a progressive disease of the central nervous system where the upper and lower neurons degenerate and die. The lower motor neurons are the nerve cells that extend from the spinal cord to the peripheral nerves. ALS progresses rapidly, and paralyzes patients which go under the intensive care of nursing facilities and loved ones, which has a devastating psychological effect on family members and the patient. Approximately 5000 people are diagnosed with it each year in North America and most of the time, ALS is fatal within two to five years, although roughly 10% of people with the disease live eight or more years, after that, they die, most commonly as a result of respiratory failure. In 2011, researchers discovered of the degenerating nerve cells. It is because the nerve cells lose the ability to recycle the building blocks of proteins necessary to function properly, and this damages the nerve cells to the point where they can no longer carry signals from the brain to the body’s muscles.

AI paragraph:

Amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS), often referred to as Lou Gehrig’s disease, is a progressive neurodegenerative disorder that affects nerve cells in the brain and the spinal cord. This condition leads to the gradual deterioration of motor neurons, which are essential for controlling voluntary muscle movements. As ALS progresses, individuals may experience muscle weakness, twitching, and eventually, paralysis, impacting their ability to speak, swallow, and breathe. Unfortunately, there is currently no cure for ALS, and the exact cause remains unknown in most cases. However, ongoing research aims to better understand the disease mechanisms and develop more effective treatments to improve the quality of life for those affected by this challenging condition.

Questions:

What was your experience in using AI?

I found that using AI was very easy and useful, and I could get basically the same information that I got from my research.

Was the paragraph that the AI generated accurate?

The paragraph that the AI generated was accurate because it gave basically the same information in slightly different words, and even listed the symptoms, which I know are accurate too.

Was the exercise useful? How can this help you with your learning going forward?

I think that this exercise was pretty helpful because it helped me with finding better sources that I know are fact checked and accurate, which could help me in future assignments where I have to research about something; however, I already knew how to access the databases beforehand, so I already knew about the accurate sources.

Were your results expected? Explain.

Some of the results were expected because I knew that AI would give a detailed paragraph; on the other hand, I did not know that the AI would describe it so well and that it would give so much information in such a short paragraph.