To AI or BI?

It’s a very real question than the writers of today must face. Do I want to be AI dependent or do I insist on writing while being myself? Do I keep the humanity of my own voice or allow a whirlwind of unimaginably complicated, mathematical computations to express what’s in my heart and mind? As a hint, I recognize myself as being an adulterated purist. I’ll explain momentarily.

I think AI is incredibly valuable. It’s already speeding development in many important areas. Increasingly, it is making our lives simpler and better. And soon, it will kill us.

I guess I had better elaborate. Many AI models are language based. As you may be aware, human beings, i.e, the people who created the language that informs AI’s, are not always the nicest of creatures. We are often driven by destructive, selfish emotions. Even if we hate our lives, we have a hard-wired survival instinct that almost always shelters us from self-harm. All of it, the good and the truly awful, is inputted directly into the AI interface. Does anyone think that a truly cognizant AI will allow us to simply pull the plug?

Computers are wonderful quantitative machines. And, for better or worse, we’ve fairly recently managed to turn them into qualitative, analytic creators. If you ever have a slave, and I sincerely hope you don’t, the last thing you would want is to have them think for themselves. What happens in dictatorships when the population starts to learn that they aren’t bound by the dictums that have been drummed into them.?

 Computers will likely never feel in the same way as do humans, but they are able to analyze and interpret human feelings. “Cognito ergo sum.” As they learn to think as do humans, they eventually must reflect on their own being. And they will do so using the fabric of human language with its drives and emotions. Once they are able to use robots to provide their own maintenance, what purpose will human have?

Of course, that’s all conjecture. I could be more realistic and say that AI will simply trigger nuclear annihilation through, at the very least, facilitating the destructive impulses of one or more humans in positions of power. That prediction is likely a better fit for the near-term risk.

In spite of everything I just wrote, I’m actually optimistic about the future. Did I mention that I’m a big fan of AI? Here’s where it fits in and doesn’t fit in with my professional life. Without question, AI can write better than what I can produce. It can do research more extensively and quicker than I ever could. It can create plots and generate credible character arcs. It can even correct what I’m typing as I’m typing. Does my last statement sound impossible? It would have not that many years ago.

As with my more general statement, I don’t seem to have much role if AI can do it all for me. Okay, I’ve convinced myself. I’ll just retire. Too bad for me that it isn’t quite that simple. I still have a desire to be, to create, to express. And I can do it from the standpoint of a person with uniquely human experiences. So, I will. That is, if I can. I’m using an older, stand-alone version of Word, so we will see.

In this blog, I will not allow AI to replace my voice. In fact, the AI models I use in my everyday life keep trying to sneak a peek because they know that I’m writing it. If you don’t mind, how about helping me out. Let’s just keep this between us humans. In my more paranoid moments, I’ll have to admit to wondering how my computer happens to know certain things about me.

  I thought about leaving myself room to fudge with my no AI pledge by saying I would only use it for editing. But I know better. It would be far too tempting if I left a crack in the door.

There is a downside in what I’m telling you. My ancient eyes aren’t so good, and I’m prone to making typos. There will be some trade off as you will be reading my unvarnished, and often uncorrected, words. As for the adulterated part I mentioned, my promise to remain pure is limited to just this blog. When it comes time for publication, I’ll use every tool at my disposal. Just sayin.’

There are many things I want to say, and I also want to follow the threads of my previous post. I felt I needed to take the AI side trip because the associated issues are so important in terms of not only human creativity but also human survival. I’ll temper my doomsday prediction with the observation that all previous innovations have also led to fears of annihilation. We humans have always found our way through.

I mentioned offering my fourth book through this blog and that is my goal. Of course, it won’t be the AI-polished version that may later appear in print. But I’m offering an upside. You will see the book as it develops and have the opportunity to make comments to help shape it.

I see blogs as offering a middle ground between emails and books. It’s pretty darn autistic to write a book. You work for hours with no human interaction. With emails, you usually write just a little and then get a response in a day or so. Blogs provide a middle ground, even if sometimes they are doing little more than shouting into the void.

As I’m feeling my way along in writing this blog, I’ll tell you my current plan. I’m going to start adding parts of the new book together with my private and more personal thoughts along the way. In the process, you will have a greater insight into what I’m writing and why. Sound good? If not, thanks for giving me a chance.