Artificial Inteligence

When I heard that someone had developed Artificial Intelligence (AI), I ran to my closet and hid. I feared that someone discovered that the intelligence I claim to have is fake. After a few hours, my wife finally retrieved me from the small, claustrophobic sanctuary I was hiding in, (she was really enjoying the quiet) and explained that is not the kind of AI they were talking about. It would have been nice if she told me sooner. I was starting to cramp up.

My wife and I were watching a 60 Minutes story about how Google is in the midst of developing a system of artificial intelligence that will be able to do amazing things. The person being interviewed demonstrated how, by using AI, anyone can have something written in the style of any famous author in a matter of minutes. The program scours the entire web for samples of a particular author’s writing then reproduces the style to create a document based on a subject of your choice. I’m doomed. That means anyone, with the proper software, could recreate this article without my knowledge, and replace me. My vast following on the internet, both of you, would be none the wiser. Before any of you say “it’s about time,” this could spell doom for humanity. 

Instead of our children learning how to correctly write a paper for a school assignment, all they will have to do is go to an app on their computer and order up a custom written piece on the required subject and the instructor would be clueless. Or maybe not. If a student, who has had difficulty stringing two words together on previous papers, suddenly turns in an assignment that appears to have been written by Ernest Hemingway, it might raise suspicion. Ya think!

It’s not only writing that is in danger. With artificial intelligence, videos can be altered and celebrities can be made to say terrible things that they did not really say. It is called Deep Fake. I have seen many examples on social media and while some are just poking fun, others disseminate misinformation and could be very dangerous. There are false videos out there with presidential candidates saying horrific things and it is all done by AI. These devious politicians do this just to tie up their opponents with “denying lies” instead of presenting their real point of view. To be honest, politicians have been doing this since the beginning of time, AI makes it more efficient.

While the guy from Google admitted that these new algorithms could be dangerous in the wrong hands, he had a positive outlook on how it could help society. He can’t fool me. I saw the movie The Terminator and how artificial intelligence in the form of a company called Skynet, had taken over and sent an Arnold Schwarzenegger look alike back to the past to kill Sarah Conner, so she doesn’t have a son who will save the world in the future by defeating Skynet…or am I overreacting?

Some folks will tell you that all these advancements will make our lives easier, I say such innovative programing will make us lazier. Anything that would make it easier to sit in front of a TV, drinking a cold beer while watching more sports or playing video games instead of actually working, is not a good thing for our society. Maybe we need a Terminator to come back from the future to knock some sense into us.

Just a short sidetrack here. If the Terminator unit and its software sent back from the future were so advanced, why didn’t he have a cell phone? He came from 2029. He would have been taking selfies and posting on Tik Tok to show off to his fellow cyborgs, how he was wreaking havoc in the 20th century. Was I the only one that noticed that? Maybe this proves that AI is not as intelligent as we thought.

We are inundated with visions of the future. Some good, some bad and many just down right scary. Some folks, like myself, embrace the positive vision of the future human race as portrayed in Star Trek, except for the Romulians, Borg and, especially the Cardassians. Who would have imagined that this crazy, reality TV family would haunt humanity into the 24th century. My wife just informed me that the Star Trek Cardassians are different from the weird family on our TVs. One is spelled with a C the other a K. So what, they’re both a scourge on humanity.

I want to be positive about AI and all the advancements it can bring us. Curing awful diseases, fixing our climate crisis, defeating world wide poverty and helping me guess the correct lottery numbers. Really, you expect me to believe that you didn’t think about that too? 

Humanity marches on. We have to remember a time when people were amazed by the invention of the light bulb, automobiles, air travel and the telephone. Do you think if Alexander Graham Bell knew what would happen with his invention in the future he might have had second thoughts? If he saw people walking around staring into their phones, ignoring everyone around them, taking pictures of their meals and posting selfies on social media, he may have scrapped his idea. Inventions like his are why we have Kardashians stalking our society today.

You can be assured that the column you are reading right now is created by me and not any form of artificial intelligence. Do you believe any honorable form of AI would take credit for this dribble? I think not. But I can promise you this. I will keep writing this article as long as I can and not let some algorithm push me out. I will say this…I’ll be back.

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