AI

I’m an old man, part of a generation dwindling rapidly in numbers. What I remember from the past was a complex world largely existing to better itself. We were active, vocal, and passionate. We lived both single and herd lives, finding direction with friends while charting our course for contribution. Success was not money; not that we were naïve but it was rarely the objective. We wanted to contribute; we wanted to matter.

But what prompted these reflections is the reality of today. My grandchildren are in elementary school, a generation that I have no idea what they’re called, only that having cell phones and computers is the norm. When I grew up, parents had a specific purpose, raise their kids ‘right’. Whatever that meant, most tried to accomplish.

Today, to a large degree, artificial intelligence is necessary to accomplish that task. Many software programs rely on it, and it continues to grow its influence.  So much so, that when soliciting literary agents, one of the questions each one asked was ‘any of the book written by AI?’

That startled me. Is that what’s happened to creativity? To thinking? I’ve heard my own daughter talk about the ‘advice’ AI gave regarding an approach to a marital problem. What I struggle with is how did humanity create a program smarter than its creator?

It does give rise to so many Sci-Fi movies that present a world overrun with creatures we made that are now that much smarter than us. And obviously, more dangerous.

Don’t misunderstand, I’m not opposed to AI, but a future where we are the second class citizens seems more likely than at any time in my past. The ability to think, create, challenge, and solve may not be ours to do. In essence, we will eventually be what AI creates and allows.