With ChatGPT, Dall-e, the recent announcement of Google’s Bard, AI seems to be everywhere. While the tech-inclined* are excited about the change, some of us are more … wary, depressed, even. And I notice those who are feeling this way are the artists, the writers, the people who create. We worry that AI will not only take our jobs but affect the mental development of generations to come.

I’m depressed and down not just because of that, but because I’ve seen this all before and human beings seemed determined to repeat the mistakes of the past. Their eye is on the profits, the prestige and the fame that will come from deploying this untested technology. And I’m heartsick by the irresponsibility.

Seen it all before, you ask? What do you even mean?

Social media! Today, the ramifications of algorithm-influenced communications is apparent. Data harvesting, democracy collapsing, the increase of misinformation, and the rise of extreme views. And most of all … so many of us are finding our brains changed because of social media. Many of us have lost the ability to focus or even be bored!

What will AI technology, deployed carelessly, do to society? Time will only tell, but let me assure you, society will feel its effects whether we like it or not.

My theory —  there there will come a time when creatives like me will retreat further and further away from the commercial web into ecosystems that shield themselves from corporate influence and data miners, until all there is left are AI bots talking to AI bots. The Fediverse is a sign. May it expand and thrive in the future.

This post by KE Garland, and the comments that follow it, is a good, if sobering read.

* Not all are, of course. Some are raising the alarm. Not that anyone in the C-suites is listening, really.