AI is one of the ‘hot topics’ in contemporary news.
I assert that one word tells you all you really need to know about AI. That word is- “ARTIFICIAL”
A background thought – would you rather have “actual intelligence” or “artificial intelligence” as the basis to make your life decisions?A second background thought – AI is just complex SOFTWARE created by people who have biases and happen to write software. Stuff like WORD, WINDOWS, internet search algorithms.
You and I are inundated daily by information. Information that may be true or may not be true. And this is where the problem exists. The “not true” may be reported in error or it can be presented for a malicious purpose. Political and ideological opponents shout that the ‘other side’ is presenting “fake news’ or “misinformation”.
This “truth” challenge is the greatest and most enduring problem faced over the history of mankind.
You and I are ‘who we are’ because of our personal beliefs – moral, ethical, religious, and yes, political. Our institutions are derived from the dominating belief systems from their communities and nations.
Rush Limbaugh stated it as – “the war of ideas”.
Joseph Goebbels, an icon of evil, the Nazi Propaganda Minister would embrace AI as the greatest tool to achieve totalitarianism. Among his many quotes we find:
“If you repeat a lie often enough, people will believe it, and you will even come to believe it yourself.”
“A lie told once remains a lie but a lie told a thousand times becomes the truth.”
“It is the absolute right of the State to supervise the formation of public opinion.”
"The essence of propaganda consists in winning people over to an idea so sincerely, so vitally, that in the end they succumb to it utterly and can never escape from it."
"We shall reach our goal, when we have the power to laugh as we destroy, as we smash, whatever was sacred to us as tradition, as education, and as human affection."
Do these quotes resonate with the cacophony of noise we read and hear every day?
Social media is shaping our next generation. AI can deliver messages from the Goebbels’ playbook to teens and us older folks – everyone.
Who controls and manipulates the “beliefs” wins.
AI is a con job like Climate Change but much more insidious.
So what is my point in this AI observation, which should have been about selling my books, rather than a ramble on how fragile our freedom is when threatened by bad people using AI outputs?
My point is simple – be informed, be vigilant as to reality, think, and make up your mind – you are the custodian of your beliefs.
And by the way, buy the Cold War thriller, Not On My Watch- Nuclear Apocalypse – a fun read and some important history “truths” you did not know.
More later on the dangers of AI
Supplemental reading, Who's in Charge Here? by Ed D'Agostino.
