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.?
Artificial Intelligence
The Storyteller: The Art of Artificial Intelligence
“The Art of Artificial Intelligence” is a poem taken from Mark’s 2025 poetry collection ‘The Storyteller‘ – now available to purchase in hardback and as an ebook from Amazon.
Listen on Apple Podcasts and read a transcript.
My Poem “Alexa”
In this day and age,
we all have access
to knowledge and information
like never before…
at this point in time,
and at any time of the day or the night,
everybody can reach out,
touch, tap, and use their voices
to acquire the gift of a response,
the answer to a question,
the thrill of discovery and understanding…
doors that were once closed are opening,
access is finally being granted by the insightful
to those who always found it hard
being that kid at the back of the class
in school who was afraid
to raise their hand for fear of being
ridiculed for asking a “dumb question”.
Questions are important –
most of the time, in my opinion,
questions are more important than answers…
Questions, inquiries, wanderings,
looking, listening, and asking
why such a thing is the way that it is
and where something or someone came from
are the steps that need to be taken
by everyone with a curious mind
in order to stimulate and rejuvenate
wonder into their lives.
Our access to knowledge, images,
and multiple ways of communication
has never been so accessible:
we carry both the keys, the doorways,
the portals, and the windows
to the worlds within worlds
that interconnect the majority
of human life on this planet
in the form of mobile
receivers and transmitters
which we carry around with us
and we can interact with,
share a conversation with,
and inquire to,
which have become our guides
to a wealth of information,
inspiration, art, music, places,
and which have become
the artificial intelligences
that we use on a daily basis
to assist us in bringing order to our lives,
which we can even call to attention
by uttering a single word to awaken them –
such as “Siri”, “Google”,
“Cortana”, or “Alexa”.
My Poem “Robot Artists”
Handmade with the human touch:
something that takes hours,
maybe even days, to create
always means more
and communicates so much –
because we can always tell the difference
between something that a human heart
was responsible for,
compared to something that was
mass-produced by a machine;
but machines do make amazing,
wonderful, and complex things
that can be fascinating…
however, some things – like art –
I believe could be copied
and replicated by a robot,
but when it comes to random,
chaotic, artistic synchronicity
I am not sure that a machine
could be capable of being as phenomenally,
spontaneously, inspired as much
as a human can sometimes be.
Technology is capable of doing things
that humans will never be able to do,
and it is very likely that the first
fragment and symbol of humanity
that an alien race from space will find
and see will be one of the robotic probes
that we have launched into
the great unknowns of the galaxy.
Robots can explore… robots can observe…
robots can extend our reach
and deepen our knowledge of the universe…
robots can already reproduce themselves,
and maybe one day robots will even know what love is –
but I am not sure if, or when, any kind of technology
will be able to describe, put into words,
and use love, pain, feelings, and emotions
like human artists do to build
the worlds that they fill with a life of experiences,
that nothing artificial could ever replicate.
But, maybe it’s possible? Maybe one day there will
come a time when a machine will embody
pure inspiration and pure empathy
greater than even a human artist
or poet could ever express?
When I write, it is almost like having
a direct line to something divine –
like having a religious experience,
like asking a question and getting an answer…
maybe machines, robots, and artificial intelligence
will one day evolve and reach a point
when and where they can out dance the greatest dancers?
Our perform the greatest actors who have ever lived?
And out inspire every great thinker
that humanity has ever had, and create
and make something that will eclipse human understanding
about life, about religion, about the universe,
about art, that the human mind
has always been incapable of knowing?
One day there will be robot cars
driving us to where we want to go to;
and one day there will be
art in art galleries
created by Artificial Intelligence,
by some of the most remarkable
machines ever made –
and when we arrive at such a time
we will find ourselves living
in an era of robot integration,
when robots can be
anything they choose: even artists.
Mark The Poet 