Martine77

@mgcrow · 06 Apr 2023

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AI in Frankenstein

Lately, opinions have been divided about AI or Artificial Intelligence. Some applaud it, others see it shuddering with sorrow.
I've been studying the phenomenon for a while and watched both the pros and cons.
In principle, AI is more or less Frankenstein's monster in the sense that it is also a collection of parts that form a new whole, of which we don't really know what it is capable of yet.
In her book, Mary Shelley lets an eccentric doctor create a creature that consists of different people's body parts. He brings it to life and gets a unique person, who, somewhere like an adult baby, also has no idea of the impact of his actions.
Feelings are also strange sightings for him.

Things don't end well in Shelley's classic. Now we are more or less with a similar principle. Advanced software scours the internet and gets parts it needs to create what you want.
In general, you will get something that is useful, but not always. It's a matter of formulating things correctly.

Contrary to the name, AI is not intelligent. It can't think and has no emotions, but it can imitate them. The danger, for example, is that it can respond to human feelings, especially among people who may already have problems connecting with others. For example, there is the story of people who fall in love with chatbots, and there may even be a connection with such a bot and the suicide of a Walloon man.
Is it new? Just think of all those kids who were inconsolable when their Tamagotchi died. People can project their emotions onto objects, especially children. That's why a teddy bear can offer comfort. Of course, a plush animal or a piece of electronics can't feel anything, but we can, and that's why losing these objects can hurt us. Mourning an artificial pet can be just as bad as a real one, especially for people who never really knew one.
That is why it is important that we consider the dangers of the concept. Chatbots should not stand in the way of our human contacts.

Then it is also the economic danger. Today, AI bots have already made several customer service agents obsolete. At certain companies, it is already becoming an art to catch a human employee in case of problems.
Artists are also concerned. Their work is at risk of being jeopardized. The AI bots take pieces of their work and make new creations with it, often without permission. The computer-generated work is currently not copyrighted, because this only applies to human creations. Actually, you're generating royalty-free images.
On the other hand, more and more artists and graphic artists are embracing AI and consciously using it to create work that they can edit into something unique about themselves that they can sell. Some also deliberately borrow their work in databases to earn money when people generate new work with it.

Writers worry that their work will fade into the background now that AI could produce the latest bestseller. The latter remains to be seen. At least AI isn't that far away from fiction. I haven't seen those programs write a good, coherent thriller yet.
The machine also does not understand context, so editors would not immediately run out of work.
Voice actors also sometimes lend their voices for a fee, now that e-Books are also increasingly being recorded via AI voices.
To come back to writers, there are some who have already written and published doomsday scenarios, especially in the Sci-Fi or Science Fiction genre. The fiction already reveals it. How much will we be destroyed by AI.? Will robots take over us? Or won't it go that fast?

My personal conclusion is that there are facts in every fiction. When Mary Shelley made her doctor bring his being to life with lightning, he also had no idea of the consequences.
Currently, we've invented something that we don't know the impact of yet. In fact, it is precisely that human ingenuity that distinguishes us from other species. Our innovative ability makes our species unique and is what sets us apart from other primates.
And here we are again close to Sci-Fi. For example, as soon as the chimpanzee, our closest relative, who is physically much stronger than us and is also capable of war and aggression, gets our ingenuity, I think The Planet Of The Apes can become a reality.
This makes me think that AI is not the biggest threat. I still think that people can be the biggest danger to each other. We're worried about a chatbot that can drive some people to despair, while there are plenty of ill-intentioned people around and our planet has an arsenal that can make it shatter several times.
In its ignorance and innocence, Frankenstein's creature caused damage, but locally. It did not destroy the world. This is how I'm currently viewing AI.
Yes, it will change our world, but people still have a choice how. It will profoundly change our market. In addition to destruction, it can create opportunities.
Had you approached Frankenstein's creature differently, it would also have ended differently.