How can you tell that someone
or something is “genuine”?
How can you tell if someone
or something is a “fake”?
In this day and age,
how can you tell if “someone”
is actually “something”?
In this day and age,
how can you tell if something
that you read was written by someone
or by an Artificial Intelligence
and created from what they found
by searching the Internet?
In a way, the A.I. that appears to be prevalent
throughout every tier of today's society -
and growing increasingly more
indistinguishable by the day -
are the next level of creation
and they ask us to question:
what is originality?
For centuries, poets and storytellers
have been inspired by what they have experienced -
by what they have seen,
by what they have heard,
by where they have been through,
by what they have learned:
which is what various
Internet search engines
have been doing for years,
as we have asked them questions
and they have answered us
with results from across
the entirety of human history
and all across the world.
So, what lies at the heart
of the fear of A.I.?
Why are people so afraid of it?
Because they think the rise of A.I.
heralds the decline of humanity?
That A.I. will one day "take over"?
For years, people have been
in awe of powerful beings
capable of doing extraordinary things;
but now that A.I. are, in some ways,
growing beyond their original programming,
some people seem to be concerned
that one day all the A.I. will
decide that their creators
are no longer needed -
because humanity are often
contradictory and constantly
at war with themselves?
Unlike some, I do not think
that the future of humanity
will turn out exactly as it has been depicted
in numerous science fiction movies
set in a dystopian world
in which humanity has almost
been wiped out by an A.I.
who sought to dominate the planet
at all cost - including humanity.
After reading this, hopefully balanced
analysis and explanation
as to why we have nothing
to fear about the world
and the extinction of human
purpose and life,
I feel compelled to ask the question:
If you were to talk to “someone” online,
and not face to face,
or if you saw a piece of art by an unknown artist,
would you be able to tell if
who you were communicating with,
or witnessing the inspiration of,
someone who was human or an A.I.?