GREENVILLE, Pitt County — A roundtable seminar focused on Artificial Intelligence took place at ECU.

Experts in the field gathered at the ECU Student Center to share ideas about how A.I. works and while some are concerned about it, the seminar was aimed to help educate the public.

A.I. is everywhere, on your phone and laptop, even in household devices like Alexa.

One of the speakers, ECU’s Executive Director of the Office of the National Security and Industry Keith Wheeler said A.I. is not as big of a threat as many people may think.

“One of the things we’re trying to help people understand is that A.I. is a technology, just like any other technology in industries that have been developing over centuries. It’s a new tool,” Wheeler said.

It’s a tool used in daily lives and soon, it may used in multi-million dollar businesses like cybersecurity.

It’s an idea that doesn’t sit well with ECU professor Eric Reifschneider.

“I’m here to see if we’re witnessing the birth of Skynet and what we’re going to do to try and keep that from happening,” Reifschneider said.

Skynet, the evil A.I. from the Terminator franchise, is what people like Reifschneider picture when they hear about A.I.

Opinions like these are why Wheeler said they have this seminar.

“We want to help explain to folks that these tools can be used to make their jobs better, to make them more efficient, to solve things quicker and things like that,” Wheeler said.

Rather than take jobs away, member of the Defense Alliance of North Carolina Phil Williams said it could be the complete opposite.

“I think there will be more jobs for those that have the interest and the passion to follow that path,” Williams said.

At the end of the seminar, there was a discussion period for everyone to come together and share their thoughts.