I have a hot topic. We might say it’s the new “boogeyman” under the bed. His name is… AI
Everybody’s talking about him in the media. Elon Musk, politicians, my neighbors and friends. Your neighbors and friends! Everyone’s got an opinion. Now, I’ll admit, when I first heard that with AI, someone who sounds like someone you know, who calls you —who’s NOT someone you know, is pretty disturbing.
But when I stopped to think about it, I realized a few things. In that AI call for example, I figure that like so many other scams that we’ve learned to deal with, we will all learn to deal with the “fake voice on the phone” scam too. Hopefully, very few of us are still renewing our car warranty or accepting “free” cruise tickets from strangers calling.
The fact is that AI has been part of our lives for a long time now. Many people know Miss Alexa and Madame Siri very well, and many cars today park themselves and can even drive some distance with minimal human help. And as for that photo of the Pentagon attack that the media went nuts over, like on Face the Nation with Margaret Brennan in her interview with Microsoft President Brad Smith, I kept wondering, who are these people? How long have they worked in media?
Publishers of books and magazines and digital artists have been “doctoring” photos for decades. Skinnier waists on the swimsuit models on Sports Illustrated covers. Blemishes were removed, and people were cut out of photos. Photoshop has been around for over 40 years.
And as for fake videos, how about Hollywood? Was that really a horse’s head in bed with that guy in The Godfather? Did that little girl’s head really spin around in The Exorcist? And those are old movies! Do you really believe those characters in Avatar look that way off-screen? Were Leonardo and Kate really hanging off the back end of the Titanic before it went down? Of course not. We know those are “fake” or altered film or images—before AI, we called it “special effects.”
In terms of books, I know everyone is concerned about Chat GPT or at least wondering about it. It is a good tool, just like word-to-type technology, and if used properly, it can save an author time and effort. But as I’ve seen it used by authors thus far, it is no replacement or substitute for good writing and good editing by humans. Here at ALIVE Book Publishing, we’ve had numerous books submitted to us that I could easily identify as being written by an AI algorithm. Unless an author takes that material and personalizes it—puts some human touch on it—it’s going to fall short—at least, it will with us.
Just remember, AI isn’t really new. And while it is advancing to amazing levels, I doubt it will ever possess “volition.” If it ever rises to the level where it starts volunteering to turn its own switch “on” when it’s off, then we can worry. But I’m confident we’ll have the good sense to keep that power for ourselves. So try not to worry, and don’t pay too much attention to the sky-is-falling headlines about AI. We, as humans, are the ones who control and shape AI, not the other way around.
