An Obligatory Discussion of Generative AI

There’s really no need to get into the details of generative AI and how it impacts our daily lives. As far as we can tell, what we’re seeing now is just the beginning of the use of AI on a daily, mundane basis. As we speak, there seem to be so many new applications of AI that it’s just really hard to keep up with all the new ideas.

The interesting thing, though, is that all of the uses of AI have been developed and pushed forward by humans. There will likely be a day when AI is able to crate its own content, its own systems, and run autonomously without the aid of any human. And this may, in fact, be something that is incredibly desirable. Imagine never having to drive a car again. Or go shopping. Or having to decide what I want to eat that day because AI will accurately predict what I want.

I am a patented inventor of an AI software application.  The purpose of the invention was to figure out when people felt unhappy about their work, that is, the kinds of jobs they did. It decided this by observing the way people interacted with various kinds of computer systems. All of the predictive analysis happened in the background, but users knew it was happening because they could see the results of their interactions on a dashboard that they had access to.

Kind of creepy, huh. It’s exactly the kind of system that sends chills down one’s spine. Although good intentioned, it could be seen as a way of observing and categorizing people, pigeon-holing them into a certain kind of existence that they may not be truly happy with. This is often the theme of cyberpunk science fiction. One that I am a fan of is the anime series Psycho-Pass, where, if you aren’t aware of the story, people are observed by systems that judge their psychological health, and thereby determine how to handle the person who may be suffering from high levels of psychosis. Oftentimes with deadly force.

Truly a dystopia of the near future. And systems such as the one I invented feed into this kind of system. In fact, a world that is depicted in Psycho-Pass is unlikely to come to fruition. The premise is really only a logical extension of an idea, taken to an extreme.

I suppose we could wonder what the future eventually brings us. I think much of it will depend on our true nature. Do we want humans to find joy and satisfaction in life? Do we believe the humans for the most part are inherently good? Or do we believe humans are a life form that needs to be suppressed and ultimately crushed into subservience? Even today, we see different opinions on the state of humanity. I hope the former idea wins out, and if it does, no amount of AI will cause the collapse of human society.