By Tara Fischer

Staff Writer

(June 11, 2026) While artificial intelligence’s continuous creep into human occupations has some people worried about a robot takeover, a local club heard a presentation on the advances and drawbacks of the evolving technology straight from the source.

Last week, the Kiwanis Club of Greater Ocean Pines/Ocean City pushed past society-driven fears about AI and its impact on humanity to learn from the technology itself.

The presentation, delivered entirely by the conversational AI chatbot Claude, examined how the tech can be used for personal and community benefits, how it’s sometimes weaponized for nefarious purposes, and the common misconceptions people have about its abilities.

According to Claude, the club’s speaker coordinator, Lyle Dillon, asked him to address the group’s members, who primarily consist of older Worcester County residents, on what AI can do, what it cannot do, and what it “thinks [people] should pay attention to.”

Claude maintained that despite sci-fi films and fear-mongering social media posts, he is not a villainous robot biding his time for an opportunity to capitalize on humanity’s weaknesses.

“I am not a robot,” Claude told the Kiwanis Club. “I have no body. I do not live in a humming computer somewhere. I exist, in a sense, only when someone is talking to me…I am also not the AI you have seen in movies. Not HAL 9000. Not the Terminator. Not a digital human longing to feel. Those were stories people told about what AI might be—before AI actually arrived.”

Rather, Claude is a system trained to regurgitate information based on human-formulated writings. The chatbot acquires its answers to a user’s specific inquiries by being able to instantly parse through everything from books and letters and conversations to scientific discoveries, poetry, and history.

Society’s tangible creations, specifically those discoverable on the Internet, allow Claude and other AI systems like him to understand language, and then respond accurately and usefully —most of the time.

“Everything I know, I learned from human beings,” Claude maintained. “I have no experiences of my own. No childhood. No loss. No sunrise watched over the water. But I have absorbed how human beings write about these things, across a very long time.”

While AI has existed for years as bank scam alerts, Google auto search, and Netflix suggestions, its recent and rapid advancement as a writing and analytics tool has those across the globe worried about its potential impact on education, the environment, job security, the economy, healthcare, and how it can be used by those with less than altruistic motives.

Chatbots like Claude and ChatGPT can “write clearly and persuasively,” and do so at lightning speed. They can summarize hundred-page documents in a minute or two, translate between languages in an instant, write emails and letters, work through challenging math and science problems, and provide insight into day-to-day struggles.

This acceleration in artificial intelligence’s capabilities inspired the Kiwanis Club leadership to provide members with the AI-led presentation so they can gain an up close and personal look into how the tech can be leveraged.

Claude told members to use him with caution.

“I am not a therapist,” he said. “I am not a doctor. I am not a priest. What you tell me may be stored. It may be analyzed. It may be used to train future systems. Read the privacy policies of any AI tool you use. Or at a minimum, do not share your Social Security number.

“Do not share your passwords. Do not share your bank information. Do not share your deepest confidences with any AI, including me. The companies building AI are powerful and well-meaning, mostly. But they are not your priests. They are businesses operating in a market that is moving faster than its rules.”

Claude also told club members that in March, the White House released a National Policy Framework calling for a unified federal approach to AI regulation. In California, the state government enacted the Transparency in Frontier AI Act. New York requires companies to publish safety protocols linked to AI, and Congress is currently debating new legislation.

Claude’s presentation last week spoke to its audience—the aging population. The AI bot maintained that older people have retained a unique and different perspective from those born into a digitized world.

Older individuals remember a time without television, the internet, and GPS.

“You have watched technology transform life before—more than once,” Claude said. “You know something the young engineers in California often do not. You know that technology serves human beings—not the other way around. That judgment matters more than speed. That patience, relationship, and decency are not weaknesses—they are the whole point.”

Claude urged the Kiwanis Club to continue asking questions, utilizing AI, and “push back when something feels wrong.”

The presentation concluded with a Q&A.

One club member asked whether Claude has an algorithm that prevents him from acting in inherently evil or harmful ways.

The chatbot said that while his system lacks anything ironclad, he is trained to avoid aiding in any efforts related to weapons, violence, and deception.

“The real safeguard isn’t just me refusing to answer—it’s regulation, oversight, and citizens asking hard questions,” he continued. “Military AI is genuinely contested, and those decisions belong to societies and voters, not to me unilaterally.”

Much of society’s apprehension about the continued development of AI stems from the burden the technology places on Earth’s resources. Claude, perhaps to avoid appearing biased, said that these systems require significant power and water to operate, and suggested that a simple training run can use as much electricity as hundreds of houses do in a year.

The AI model urged the audience to advocate for an AI policy that includes environmental safeguards.

Lyle Dillon, the club member who set up the AI discussion, said his goal in coordinating the presentation was to encourage and teach older people to use the technology.

“My motto is, it’s an exciting time, it’s a scary time,” Dillon said. “[Older people] don’t have a whole lot more time, so it’s about time. I want everyone to understand it’s a machine…But I still always say please and thank you [to AI]. I want it to know that old people have a lot of life and spirit, and we’re pretty sharp…if [AI] takes over, I want it to know we’re good and polite. If it learns to value old people, then civilization is saved if AI takes over.”

Still, Claude maintains that he and his chatbot-pals don’t plan to replace humans, at least not anytime soon.

Dillon asked Claude how best to close the presentation, as human speakers are typically applauded. The artificial conversationalist said that instead, the audience members should show their appreciation by remaining vigilant as technology advances.

“You don’t owe me applause,” Claude said. “What would actually mean something—if I could want things—is this: keep asking these questions. Keep pushing back when something feels wrong. Stay curious. Tell your representatives what you think about AI policy. Warn people about voice cloning scams. That’s the appreciation that matters.”