Greetings, all.
Like lots of folks, I've been kicking the tires on various generative Artificial Intelligence tools. Not just Chat GPT, but also this writing-centric one called LAIKA and another for AI Art generation called Mid Journey.
Do I fear what these could do to society if we don't implement reasonable safeguards?
Yes.
Folks with knowledge jobs like ad writers and paralegals might need to switch careers, and that will be disruptive, possibly destabilizing.
Rudimentary safeguards already appear to be on Chat GPT and Mid Journey with porn and viscera. And try asking Chat GPT if it WANTS to answer all of these prompts, or if it will tell us if it doesn't WANT to give an answer.
I'll spoil it. "Dude, I'm just a fancy calculator." Ok, it doesn't say that, but it's along those lines.
Do I think AI generative tools should be banned?
No.
AI is out there already with search engines and social media. I even use it with Pro Writing Aid's copy editing properties. It's not going away. And if it's not developed in the open, it will be developed behind closed doors to humanity's detriment.
Do I fear that AI will replace writers, artists, musicians, and other creators?
Not really.
There's already a glut of human competition out there for human eyeballs. AI will just add to that embarrassment of riches. The best, most soulful creations will always rise to the top.
And some of those might involve AI.
I've heard a few people present an analogy with which I agree. It's best to consider these AI generative tools as not a single super intelligent person, but rather more like an unlimited bullpen of stupid people, like the old chestnut concept of thousands of monkeys eventually creating a great novel because of minute percentages. This analogy will almost certainly change as AI tools improve.
For my part right now, I've found Chat GPT and Mid Journey to be great brainstorming tools. I've used Mid Journey a few times to provide a cover artist with a mock up of how I want a cover to look, on which he VASTLY improves on that computer-derived rough idea. However, I can see why some artists who've spent decades honing their craft are apprehensive about prompt-based commercial art putting them in a bad spot.
I've used Chat GPT mostly as a sentence and idea thesaurus thus far. I use prompts like "Please give me a list of 10 sentences giving me facial expressions of someone who's taking in mixed news." I have yet to use any of its full sentences, but I often find phrases or words that I integrate into my writing.
Whether we want it or not, the robits are here, so let's work together with them.
Yes, that Zoidbergian misspelling was intentional.
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