Disclaimer: No AI was used to create this blog post…

… and with this first line we’re jumping directly into today’s topic: I’m posting again, despite it all.

Fiction versus Reality

Can you believe that every time we write something new or create a piece of original art we have to emphasize this now: Created by an Actual Human?

Machine-made texts and images have become ubiquitous, and whenever a problem or a question arises in my personal environment, somebody will inevitably suggest asking the ‘AI.’ Notice the quotation marks. The technology behind ‘artificial intelligence’ is not in fact intelligent, despite what you might have been led to believe. The colloquial name for this kind of software is euphemistic and misleading, and all those Science Fiction movies and books we’ve been consuming over the past few decades have made us susceptible for the idea that if you just pour in enough data, the system will eventually awaken and come alive. No day goes by without someone parroting the statement,

‘This is only the beginning! Wait just a year or two…’

Granted, there is an unprecedented, large-scale theft of our data going on, which makes it seem plausible that at one point all of the amassed data will spark a kind of natural short circuit where actual reasoning emerges from a formerly life-less pile of data and a new life is spawned. My beloved Science Fiction has been fuelling this sort of magical thinking since the dawn of the genre, when Frankenstein’s Monster became a living, breathing creature. The only problem with this is: it’s fiction.

To this day we don’t know what actually constitutes intelligence, much less how life developed from inorganic material millions of years before your or my ancestors even come into the picture.

‘Yes, but surely, All The Data must amount to something one of these days?’

Must it? If it were so natural for intelligent life to develop from the shear amount of available data, shouldn’t the universe be teeming with it? Heck, shouldn’t Earth itself be a living, breathing thing? Now, there’s a thought…! Just kidding. We can probably agree that if Earth were a rational, living being, we as a species would have been exterminated centuries ago, just for being such a pain in the rear to the environment.

We still don’t know how intellectual reasoning really works, but there is strong indication
that our brains do not store and process data like computers but rather function
like an orchestra through interactive connectivity. Also, our gut bacteria have more to do with it than seems obvious.

‘But doesn’t quantum computing change everything? Surely, data can be processed in much more unpredictable ways, sparking actually creative, out-of-the-box decisions.’

Again, this is a misconception that takes for granted an ever-increasing amount of original and useful data to be fed into such computing systems. The problem with data mining is, however, that computers have no way of evaluating if the (stolen) data has been manipulated or corrupted or is simply nonsensical, whereas the workings and fail-safes of our brains are at the current level because they have proven useful in furthering human survival to this day. Lots and lots of trial and error over millions of years. And brains are quite energy-sufficient at that, while current ‘AI’ models use so much power that McKinsey predicts a 13% annual increase in power demand till 2030 in Europe. That hardly seems sustainable when large-scale quantum computing comes into the mix.

‘But then, what’s all the hype about? ‘

Simply put, it’s a scam.

Marketing strategies

Don’t assume for one moment that ‘AI’ is being integrated in every conceivable aspect of our lives because of some great ideal of advancing and nurturing the human experience. It’s being shoved into our faces because there is money to be made for the developers—that is, IF we all buy into the scam, from courts of law and governments over tech firms further down the food chain to the end user who is supposed to pay for it all eventually. To achieve this, they have to make us all believe that one of these days ‘AI’ will actually produce reliable assistance and improvements—despite frequent evidence of the contrary—and that it’s only a matter of time until we all profit from it.

Honestly, I’m surprised I feel this vehemently about ‘AI’ myself. I mean, I’ve been a science fiction reader much longer than I’ve been a writer. ‘Artificial intelligence’ has always been a boon in tales of space exploration, and I don’t doubt there are useful applications for Large Language Models and Large Image Models in scientific research such as astrophysics or medicine, in well-controlled scenarios, and under the scrutiny of scientific experts to peer-review results.

But that’s not what we’re talking about here. We’re talking about unsupervised, large-scale data-mangling at the expense of countless writers and artists. There have been cautionary tales about ‘General Artificial Intelligence’ systems enslaving or eradicating humans, and there have been stories about ‘Artificial Humans’ being more humane than us. But all we get is stupid software models that steal our data, our jobs, our art, and our self-reliance, all in exchange for bloated, meaningless, and unoriginal hot air. And never forget: whenever you ask ChatGPT and the likes for an answer, they take your data and run with it.

Repercussions

This ‘AI’ nonsense has been going on for so long that I can’t enjoy finding new writers or artists anymore, without feeling the need to investigate if they are actually the real deal. Heck, popular artists and writers have been exposed for using ‘AI’ in their work, further muddying the waters. What that inherent mistrust is doing to our social relationships in the long run I don’t like to think about, never mind the many ways it affects our global politics. And that’s not even taking into account the real, palpable damage erroneous ‘tips’ cause when users fail to fact-check diligently before consuming hazardous substances or following random user instructions or life advice.

What happens when all this false and unoriginal, derivative data gets mixed in with the rest? The output will become more and more erroneous and bland, and there will be fewer, if any, experts in important positions to catch undesirable outcome. More incorrect information, more false deductions, more uncertainty and instability. Somebody will always use this to exert influence and power over people, and someone will always make money from promising easy solutions, but that’s another story. For now, I will contend myself with emphasizing that I don’t use ‘AI’ in my creative work, thank you, and hoping that this bubble of fake ‘AI’ will burst sooner rather than later.

Fiction imitating Reality

Nevertheless, I wouldn’t be much of a fiction writer if there hadn’t been a story lurking somewhere in those dire musings of mine. It came to light through a writing prompt in a forum. (If you’re a writer: it’s Absolute Write—go check it out!) The premise was a far future AI that despite being a super-intelligent, self-aware, and all-powerful being, is even more dumb and pointless than AI in the year 2023. I struggled with that, I kid you not, but what I made of it has now been compiled into an original, never before published short story which I give for free to old and new e-mail friends. So, if you would like a copy and are not yet receiving my e-mail newsletter, you can request it down below.

Stay awesome!