For as long as artificial intelligence has been on the worldwide radar, I have been reluctant to weigh in on its benefits or its burdens.
Until this moment. I am going to declare that AI scares the living crap out of me.
I worked in a profession for nearly four decades that relied on human beings reporting the truth as we understood it. Journalism places strict rules on accuracy and fairness. AI has managed, in my view, to scramble it all up and turn what we know to be real into something that could be made up.
I am sickened by the images I see and audio I hear depicting people commenting on matters that they cannot possibly know or understand. The images are products of AI-generated computers. For instance …
I recently watched a video of two American presidents — John F. Kennedy and Ronald Reagan — carrying on and joking about an issue that post-dates their deaths by decades. A friend of mine in Germany sent me a video of President Barack Obama declaring that Donald J. Trump screamed at a judge that he is “above the law!”an event that hasn’t been reported by any legitimate media anywhere on Earth.
I used to trade in truth-telling. It is the AI-produced nonsense that has me melting down at times at the thought that I could be listening to computer-generated fakery being passed off as the real thing.
I get that AI is used for entertainment purposes. Some top-of-the-line artists have used it to produce fabulous music videos.
The possibilities for abuse of this astonishing technology, however, is giving me the heeby-jeebys.
I am afraid of it. Very afraid.