Let me preface this post by saying that I have no intention of using any sort of Generative AI (beyond what has already been used, e.g., Grammarly) to write my blog posts and reviews. This defines the whole purpose of a creative outlet and expressing my own thoughts and opinions.

Here is my humble take on the current issue.

I do not think that the machines will take over the world. I truly don’t. Not because it is implausible and too fantastic - I think we can all agree that five or ten years ago, the idea of using AI in, say, college work, or the need for a regulation or protection against AI, wouldn’t have even crossed our minds back then.

And yet here we are.

Now, colleges and universities have anti-AI policies and tools to check submitted works for AI generation.

I don’t think there is any true danger in being enslaved by machines, only because we do not have (perhaps, yet; perhaps, never) that type of perfect AI that would be so omnipotent that humankind would simply give up and let it be ruled by the machines. Will we get close to it? I don’t know. I have neither sufficient knowledge nor any clairvoyancy to prove either.

I do have an opinion, though, and amidst people looking down at those who use AI or those who are excited to see how it develops, I want to voice it.

AI is a tool that can be dangerous only if we, as users, make it so. A car is just a car until a drunk driver sits behind the wheel and causes a traffic accident. We consider cars to be a convenient method of transportation, a luxury item, at times. Something exciting. We do not look at our parents’ old car and think, it is a machine that kills people. And yet it does. According to the World Health Organization, over a million people die in traffic accidents every year. A million people. But we do not think of that when we drive to Costco to get groceries, or drive to work, or pick up kids from school.

If AI can potentially become as dangerous as a car or any sort of machinery, or even a weapon, then why shouldn’t we treat it as such?

A lot of big corporations are hiring like crazy for all AI-related positions. Companies want to be ahead of the market and offer better, faster, more efficient products. Because for most of them, AI is still a product.

AI chats like ChatGPT and Gemini (which I both use) might be new to the market, but we have had context marketing, personalized ads, and virtual assistants long before. I do not understand the panic of some people about the use of AI. Right now, it is a new and shiny thing that everyone wants to be a part of, but once it reaches a certain plateau (development slows down, functionality stops awing its users, or the market gets oversaturated), there will be a slowdown. And it will reach a plateau, either do to technological limitations or limitations of our own mind. Perhaps that stagnant phase will be temporary, but it will happen.

Look at iPhones. 2007 was a groundbreaking year for a new type of cellphone. Everyone wanted one. The demand was astronomical. People were willing to fly to other countries to get it. There were people making hundreds of dollars reselling jailbroken phones. Almost twenty years later, there are better and faster phones, with better cameras and processors. Look, I am just an end-user and not a professional, but even I can tell that there is a decline in interest.

What I am trying to say is that AI is also a trend. Now it feels as if every service or device we own has to have some sort of AI in it. But this too shall pass.

I do not think AI will substitute or truly damage creative work in the long run. It will just become another medium with its own niche content and audience. Compare it to writing instruments. Fountain pens are regaining more popularity, some sources reporting increased sales year over year up to 18%, while we are all used to typing on our keyboards, and nobody writes longhand anymore.

Using Generative AI to write books, create art or in academic research should not be allowed. Unless it is done with the intention of studying the ways of Generative AI. Otherwise, it is the same as copying somebody else’s work. Using AI to help you automate administrative work, something too arduous to complete, makes sense. But why would you want to make it create something that is supposed to be your own?

I do not understand the panic, but I also do not understand the need to use AI in every single step. As an exercise, I tried to use an AI tool in a website creation, and, to be honest, got so fed up with it being unable to give me exactly what I need, that I just had to do it on my own. (And, no, it was not based on Squarespace.)

AI is not perfect. AI can hallucinate and make mistakes. So, can people.

And I need another cup of coffee that will definitely not be generated by AI.