First, I want to acknowledge the distinction that what we currently call an AI isn’t, and true sentient Artificial Intelligence scares me to death.
Perhaps it is because I grew up with the television series “Battlestar Galactica” and movies like “Terminator;” however, I don’t think that is strictly the case. Instead, what surprises me is humanity’s willingness to turn some intimate aspects of our lives over to our artificial counterparts in the blink of an eye. Frankly, I expected more blood, but that’s just me.
There is little notice of the machine’s invasion outside the writing, note-taking, and blogging sphere. As I ask friends about ChatGPT or casually ask coworkers what they’ve experienced, I’m met with blank stares or a vague recollection of reading something about the technology.
Inside Medium.com’s world, there is a different view altogether. It could be part of the machines’ rise; to convince early adopters of its benign nature, so we will write about the ease and helpfulness of our conquers.
“Awesome Prompts” and “Ask me Anything” are just a few of the titles that flood my feed (the captions have been changed to protect the co-conspirators). However, look at any of these innocuous prompts, and you’ll be surprised at what we ask our newfound AI buddies to do.
(I provide no reference to the following sources)
“Act as a Life Coach” is perhaps the most surprising. “It will be your job,” the creator of the blog article says, “to come up with strategies that can help me make better decision… creating plans for achieving success or dealing with difficult emotions.”
“Act as a Career Counselor.” “Determine what careers are most suited for me based on skills, interests, and experience.” We’ve had career tests for as long as I can remember, so this one may not be so different.
“Act as a Personal Trainer.” “Devise the best plan for me depending on my current fitness level, goals, and lifestyle habits.”
And my personal favorite.
“Act as a Mental Health Adviser.”
I’ve used ChatGPT (and their lessor brethren) as a tool in my studies to ease my need to jump to other sources, i.e., create a citation from (insert link to article here), which is immensely faster than jumping to a citation website and building one from scratch. Spellcheck and Grammarly likewise have been spectacular algorithmic tools for this struggling writer.
As content creation goes, asking AI to complete my thoughts on a subject it performs horrifically, asking AI to provide the location of a trail or National Park I read about in the news? Fantastic and easy to use. However, asking ChatGPT to craft a poem is just plain weird.
Unfortunately, the few prompts I have selected and many others I could choose from reflect an attitude of giving up, turning over, and needing help from my fellow human beings. It saddens me that we could feel so alone as to believe our best option is turning to a series of algorithms for answers to life’s personal questions (42).
No, there won’t be blood, and resistance will indeed be futile when our AI overlords come; because, apparently, we will turn over the keys of our kingdoms quickly and willingly for the ease of an AI that can “act as a Real Estate Agent” on our behalf.
Written March 7, 2023
Published simultaneously at Medium.com