A.I., KILLER ROBOTS, AND CHAMOMILE TEA
Those of us who choose to spend our hours inside at a keyboard following the labyrinthian craziness in our minds—in other words, we writers—have a new challenge looming. It’s not enough that we must pit our tiny but unique wills against publishing corporations looking only for the next million-dollar sell. Not enough that someone in another country has plagiarized our books and is now making more money off them than we are. Not enough that we may have a fickle fan base always looking for the next new thing. (Thankfully none of my fans are like that.) Now there’s something else to worry about: Artificial Intelligence.
Recently one of my authors’ groups met to discuss this new technology and the effect it could have on the writing world. Some had already tried AI for blurbs, bios, or just for fun to see what it was like. One member had been a beta tester for a Chat GPT competitor. But most of us were basically uninformed and trying our best to speculate how it will affect us. We ended up agreeing that the only thing we knew for certain was we were traveling in uncharted waters, cowboys in the wild wild west of creativity.
Authors of our level—those who produce quality work but haven’t made it to stardom—are working against the odds. As are the cover artists. As are the editors. As are the narrators. As is just about everyone who isn’t Neil Gaimen or Steven King. With limited budgets, we can’t help being intrigued by a new technology that could save us some money. So here comes AI.
First I want to look at the moral dilemma. When we take a job away from a person and give it to a machine, are we crossing a line? But what about all the other advancements that have changed the way we work? Is AI any different?
The use of AI also brings up an ethical, and even legal, dilemma with issues related to copyright, misuse, bias, and transparency. Artists are finding their art, writing, and voice showing up in unexpected and inappropriate places. Since AI language models generate their content from bits and pieces snatched from the web, who knows what the source material may be? As of now, that source doesn’t need to be disclosed or credited. In my opinion, that should be one of the first thing the government regulates, along with making it law to disclose when AI has been used.
AI is a useful tool when used correctly, but what about innate human evil? New scams are coming out of the woodwork like ants from rot. Books produced solely by AI can be cranked out in no time at all, and though flat and voiceless, the sheer volume will make money even if individual sales are low. Then there are the Get Rich Quick schemes—for a fee, they offer to teach the secrets of AI success, when really all they are doing is passing on information you can get for free if you look.
Sometimes evil has nothing to do with money. Revenge, harassment, and torture are also made possible through the wonders of AI. And the next step further?
So far we’ve heard very little about AI-equipped robots—essentially, a robot that thinks. What would it think, though? That would depend on the programmer. What if he’s Hitler? Already there are people asking AI to lay out apocalyptic scenarios. There needn’t be a Terminator-style robot revolution—all it would take is a few evil humans playing god.
That brings me to the final subject of my article, chamomile tea. In the face of such wonder, such fear, such anger, and such unknowns, my solution is to fix a cup of calming chamomile tea in my favorite cat-print mug, and let go of the things I can’t change. What will you do to ride out the future?
Note: All pictures in this post are from Google and are AI generated.
Additional note: At this point in my career, I will not use any form of AI in the creation of my books. That may change when the robots take over. No promises.
