The AI Infiltration

From the outset I’ll state that I probably don’t have a clue what I’m talking about here. I haven’t read an entire article about this topic. I’ve tried, but by the second or third paragraph, thoughts race and anxiety ensues. I’ve typed ‘writing programs operated by artificial intelligence’ only once in a search bar, scanned the list that ranked the top 8.

So…did a human create that list or did the program that is ranked number one come up with it? A rationale for using a digital data source as a ghost writer is that it rescues the human - the one with NON-artificial intelligence - from battles with writer’s block and blank pages. I WANT to read the creative outcomes of those battles, not the words produced by artificial intelligence when a writer surrenders.

During my formative years, my teachers preached that I was not to believe EVERYTHING I read. So, when I had students to ‘preach’ to, I periodically covered propaganda techniques and tried to help them develop and use critical thinking skills.

Were I in the classroom these days, I might be preaching, “Don’t believe ANYTHING you read,” since that is MY propensity as I approach my seventh decade on this planet. Stop a moment to contemplate educational implications. Teachers have to instruct and offer practice, but why grade anything but closely proctored tests? Why even have schools at all? Offer instruction online then provide mastery indicators in a WiFi-free testing facility. Would the proctors be…breathing?

Would humans even be required? A professor in a graduate class I took back in the 1990’s conjectured that robots might one day run classrooms. The loudest objections to ‘progressing’ to robotic teachers came from me. Surely robots could not provide enrichment, use stories, listen and love as those of us in that classroom did.

Or could they? If the technology exists now to allow a program to scan my work and produce words in my thoughts and style, I reckon that program could be put in the ‘brain’ of a non-wrinkling. fatigue-free version of me (or a fancier facsimile) that could even plug herself in at the end of the day as a robovac does.

Maybe I am sitting under a tree mulling over which tree to sit under next while a program composes this and emails it to Kelly at The Prospect-News. Maybe a camera records all the community’s civic meetings and sends text and images to a computer that produces articles as Debra Tune would. Should she share the byline? If technology is in charge, is Barbie’s editor status necessary?

Another unsettling thought is - though incredible writing technology is hitting the news NOW - how long has it ACTUALLY been around? My existence is so bombarded with artificially produced news, photoshopped images and intricate special effects technology that I wonder if I’m walking around in my own movie. Who and what do I trust for knowing how it really is? Walter Cronkite, where are you?

PS. I wholeheartedly believe the PN staff is actually doing the work we see in each weekly issue. Or…are they?

(For April 6, 2023)