Life, Death And AI

I love digital technology. I’m excited by the prospect of AI, but it scared me for the first time recently.

I shared more on this in the post below.

Since posting that, I can’t stop thinking about who really owns their digital identity. With current developments, it’s hard to see if it is each of us. And that is incredibly scary.

How would you feel if your voice and likeness could be taken to create anything?

I would imagine your response to be not so enthusiastic. I think most of us would be right there with you.

It's in times like this that the great Spiderman quote “With great power comes great responsibility” echoes in the air.? Each of us is facing that very conundrum right now.

AI brings the opportunity to improve our lives, yet it could also destroy us. We seem to love apocalyptic shows about zombies. Hell, we even had a near miss of one with a virus a few years back.

Yet, maybe the real apocalyptic event is influenced by what we do now with this rapidly moving technology. Cough…Terminator…cough.

It’s funny because last year we were booming about the prospects of Web3 with its promise of recapturing privacy in a very privacy-less era. In 2023, we’ve flipped the script from that vision to throwing out even more of that data to AI tools.

And I’m guilty of that too!

I’ve been playing with a variety of AI tools in my go-to production stack to build content for my L&D projects and social feeds (check some out below). I love the utility of them, but handing over my likeness and vocal assets so easily is not lost on me.

The Bad: Misinformation on Steroids

Most of us consider the bad outcomes of AI like a Terminator film.

I feel that’s pretty far-fetched at this point. What is more realistic (and happening all around us as I type) is supercharging the already uncontrollable problem of misinformation.

Misinformation

False or inaccurate information, especially that which is deliberately intended to deceive.

Source: Oxford Dictionary

We’ve been fighting misinformation with social media for nearly a decade now.

The power of 24/7 connectivity has given us unlimited access to each other. Sadly, some have used this as a weapon to deceive and destabilise. This is commonly referred to as Disinformation.?

Disinformation

Disinformation is false information deliberately spread to deceive people. It is sometimes confused with misinformation, which is false information but is not deliberate. Disinformation is presented in the form of fake news.

Source: Wikipedia

Recent examples that have been fuelled by AI include these Midjourney creations of the Pope and Donald Trump.

None of these are real, but can you tell?

The latter images of Trump stir the most despair in me. How can the everyday human tell if this is real or fake? And what are the consequences if they can’t?

I haven't got answers.?

These are the questions I reflect on in my own experience with AI.

Do we really die in the age of AI?

Death talk is something we tend to avoid.

I mean, no one wants to remind themselves about the end. Yet, what if it doesn’t have to be the end? What if you could live on as an AI?

And no, I’m not talking about becoming your family's version of Alexa when your physical body passes on. I’m thinking more like an Artificial General Intelligence tool or AGI for short.

Artificial general intelligence

Artificial general intelligence (AGI) is the representation of generalized human cognitive abilities in software so that, faced with an unfamiliar task, the AGI system could find a solution.

An example of this can be found in the story of Superman.

In most forms of the story, Clark (aka supes) meets his own AGI in the form of his Kryptonian father in the fortress of solitude. Even though his father's physical being is gone, some of this personality exists within a crystal (a Kryptonian USB drive).

Clark can connect with his deceased father through this tool.

It gives him the chance to know how father and learn from him. Although they can never touch each other, his father is always present to watch over his son.

I find something beautiful in that.

We can’t live forever (not yet anyway), but I wonder just how many of us would do this to spend more time with our loved ones. I struggle with that answer myself.

Who owns our digital self?

This thinking brings me back full circle to how I started this piece.

We can create anything using the assets of anyone. So, who owns these when we die?

Will we get John Wick 5000 with Keanu Reeves AI centuries from now? What if the world's greatest bands never stop producing music even though they left the physical world decades ago?

What does one do when we have so much power?

I’m curious if this would destabilise our society. Ultimately, all good things must come to an end. That includes John Wick (it pained me to write that!).

The Good: Time, Freedom and Innovation

It’s not all bad though, folks.

AI can be a real tech for good. It can help us get to the big problems we want to solve faster. Imagine the power of AI in shaping the way we treat terminal diseases or events like viral outbreaks.

Many are scared that AI will put them out of a job.

But, what if it gave you back time instead? Automating mundane tasks is a huge barrier for lots of us. If AI can do that and give us back the non-renewable resource of time, surely it’s a win?

I already use AI-powered tools to fuel my creativity and save me time.

From social posting to calendar scheduling, these tools give me back time to spend on the things I care more about. Newsflash, that is not maintaining my calendar!

Ai is like Ying and Yang - we need balance.