In The Study

I would like to think I am a decent judge of what is good for me and what is bad. I have parents who have raised me to look at a situation ahead and assess the potential outcomes before diving headfirst into the bramble bush and then finding my way out again.

When it comes to AI, I feel like I had a similar sensation on my first impression with it. Now for clarity’s sake when I refer to AI, I am referring to the newer generation of chatbots and such like ChatGPT, Grok or Sora AI. AI in general has been around for a long time, but this article is mainly focusing on the newer and generally understood definition of AI. ChatGPT at first seemed like a fun gimmick to me. One of my earliest impressions I remember using it for was in my YouTube video: (Is AI the future of YouTube?) In the video I used ChatGPT to write a script for a video related to my channel, as a test to see how good its reasoning is based off a barely known YouTube Channel. Because of my lack of popularity and renown on the internet, what came back was a video advertising some sort of Space feature with stars and planets and such. It did this because it went off what it had which was my name that sounded kind of related to astronomy and the sky and ran with that.

At the time, this was amusing and interesting to see what the computer could come up with based on so little background knowledge, but as the years have gone on, I have started to only see how it has gotten out of control. More and more youtubers have been resorting to using this strategy to actually write real video scripts and ideas. They are also using it to facilitate, edit and manage their content. And then, out of this growing problem, the real monster started to appear. AI generated images and videos.

I want to be very clear on my stance on Generative AI. Frankly I think it is a blight on today’s society that holds a microscopic amount of actual good use, against the goliath of problems it poses. First let’s go over the more practical issues it brings.

The first issue I see with Generative AI is the harm it poses on the artistic economy. Let’s take a look at the idea of Diminishing Marginal Utility, shall we? The Diminishing Marginal Utility Effect is the idea that the more of an item is consumed or created, the less valuable or enjoyable that thing is. The idea of quantity over quality is a strong fighter in this field and when you look at the number of items produced today as opposed to 100 years ago it becomes clear how this works. It is no surprise that antiques from today are worth much more than an antique in 100 years will be that was made today.

Back in the 1920s, items were made in extremely smaller batches and often were better quality as such. Today, there are so few of those items left that many of those objects can sell at a premium. However, many generally bought items are made in batches by the millions if not billions today and they are made so cheaply that they are barely worth more than a stick of gum. In 100 years’, time, any items created today will be barely worth more than their original value since there will be so many of these items left, and the quality of the item will not be particularly sought after.

The same can be said about what is happening in the world of art and content today. The market is being so oversaturated by AI content, that the inherent value is dropping. Artists are fighting to get their Art seen or found, but it becomes harder and harder when a thousand AI images are shoved in your face first. Many consumers as well are less concerned with the actual quality of images or videos and are only concerned with saving money and getting what they need as quick as possible. This causes many consumers to lean towards AI images for their needs as opposed to the labors of love that actual Artists create.

Another problem we face with the increase in the use and technology of AI generated content is the abuse of the technology for unsavory reasons. The security world has seen a massive increase in issues regarding fraudsters utilizing Generative AI to replicate people’s faces to be used to bypass facial recognition technologies, as well as to forge official documents or identification cards. This poses a massive threat to the world of security both for personal and even financial reasons.

Imagine you look at your bank account to see it has been completely drained. When you contact your bank to find out what happened you discover that a fraudster went on your Facebook, found a picture of yourself you posted recently, and then utilized AI to replicate an image of your face onto a very convincing ID or they used the technology to bypass a facial recognition software to gain access to your finances. This threat is very real, and it is growing rapidly. The worst part is that if this strategy were to become mainstream, there is not much any of us could do against it. Posting a picture of your own face anywhere on the internet automatically gives the AI modules access to it and by extension, the fraudsters.

Another very real very big danger in this field is the safety and respect of other people’s bodies, especially children. It is no surprise that with the increase in AI’s capabilities to generate images, there would be a large chunk of people who would utilize it for depraved reasons. Images have begun to circulate of real people’s faces that have been digitally rendered onto other people’s bodies or digitally rendered bodies that are in shall we say… compromising situations. This already is a dangerous and extremely violating act against other people, but the worst part is that many people have started doing this to images of children! The length of depravity and disgusting acts people will resort to is only as strong as the technology they possess and by handing the general public such tools, puts the power into these monsters’ hands.

Moving on from the more physical issues with AI (particularly generative AI) it’s time to look at the inner issues it poses. What is the real intent behind AI in the hands of the common man? The answer is convenience. Back in 2011, the world was introduced to Apple’s Siri, a virtual assistant you can have answer questions, take notes, or be set to remind you of important tasks. This was a very helpful tool as it took out some of the more tedious tasks in life and left more freedom for you to pursue your goals. Then soon after, Alexa came along which served a similar purpose and now resided not only in your phone, but all around your house. Now wherever you were, you could simply ask a question and receive the answer.

This virtual helper train started to snowball more and more until eventually we landed with what we have today; ChatGPT, complete with an interactive voice companion. For many, this seems like a good thing. Rather than wasting hours on end researching for a paper, or trying to find data to compile, I can just have ChatGPT do it for me. I can give it the request, and in no more than a couple minutes it can have all the information I need prepared and packaged for me to submit into my assignment, utilize in my speech or whatever need I had for it. But it’s not my research. I did not take the time to find this information myself and consequentially, I do not even know much about what I am researching. Research is supposed to be a learning activity. When you review articles and information you get the author’s perspective and see it through their eyes. But when AI is utilized, you cease to be a student, and resort to being nothing more than a facilitator of information. There are many people out there who don’t even possess the decency to read over what the AI wrote for them. They just trust it is good enough for their needs and submit that work as their own.

This is scary, and I don’t mean simply concerning. I mean really terrifying. We have students in our systems who are embarking towards our important workforce, who cannot even be bothered to read one chapter of their assigned reading. I should know, because I am currently in school with them. How can you trust what somebody says or does, if they don’t have the skills or knowledge to back it up? This is where we are headed as a civilization, with people growing an incredibly absolute dependance on these interfaces to tell them exactly what to do, how to think and what to believe.

For now, I think it is time to climb off my soapbox. I will go over my opinions on the education system as a whole soon but that is a whole other rant that needs its own time. There is still much more I can say about the growing blight that is AI, but I think the general idea of my concerns and opinions are pretty clear. When we rely on AI, we revoke the importance of our humanity. Connecting with others and seeing them as real people too, going out into the world and experiencing all life has to offer; these are all great things that have no place in a world run by a computer and the more we resort to this dependence on technology, the closer we get to that Technotatorship.