A Changing Digital World: Perspectives and Challenges
John Ink2Quill Opinions
www.ink2quill.com

AI continues to increase in importance for us in our lives. I’ve reached a point where I cannot imagine using technology without it. It’s like the car or internet.

It’s obvious as ever that the digital world is changing. The wealth on knowledge and content continues to grow, as usual, and what we call AI continues to grow up. So many different AI exist now to do all kinds of functions from content creation, to secretarial work, novel writing and the list goes on. AI now is used in nearly all aspects of people’s task throughout the day. They aren’t up to scratch yet but they are being pushed because it’s cheaper.

I was on the phone the other day talking to a human representative about getting sent an updated bill. The previous bill online had some mistakes and I wanted the updated bill with the changes so I would not overpay my bill. The representative told me that he could only give me the non-updated bill from online because that’s all “The System” would send me. Now I asked if by “The System” he meant the AI algorithms and he answered in the affirmative. I then asked to speak to a human being that could help me and he told me there was no one else to help me. So. I took a deep breath. I took a sip of my coffee and exhaled. That is where customer service is at right now. I told him that AI seemed to be his boss. He acknowledged my observation and I got nowhere. We now live in a world of crappy customer service where people do not help you. We live in a world where AI and algorithms dictate what you want and we call that customer service. This is infuriating.

I suggest that we move AI out of customer service or at least keep it on the very lower levels for the mundane tasks. That would be a great solution but it might, at first glance, seem more expensive. In the case of the problem above I intend to cancel that credit card and move on to one with a real customer service agent who can solve problems and not tell me what they cannot do. So, at least in my case, the company did not save money with me.

I don’t want to give the wrong impression about my ideas of AI. I am a firm believer in the usefulness and necessity of AI. We will not be able to solve so many of our species and society existential problems without it. We will not be able to push out into space without AI or find the big health cures. At work I’ve used AI as my secretary to give me letter templates for emails, produce neat spreadsheets and even offer suggestions on all kinds of topics like places to visit, blog ideas etc. AI like the car, computer, electricity, the internet, the wheel (Yes. The wheel) is an indispensable part of society. We cannot turn back the clock on it.

There is one issue however that we need to address right away. That issue is not so obvious to people but it is potentially serious. That problem is the preference AI has for AI content. Does it sound innocuous? Well it isn’t necessarily. I’ve learned by many creators today that content produced by AI is being preferentially sent to people’s suggestions to be given a wider audience. And this trend is only getting worse. That means that over time, or very soon actually, a person will have to submit content that is mostly if not all AI generated. The human creators are being pushed out. That is what I was told. Now, How much of this is hyperbole or nonsense? I don’t know. We have to be very careful not push out human creators, inventors, workers, businesses from access to the digital world. There is space for everyone. Do we need to amend The US Constitution for this? Do we need an article for freedom and fairness to everyone in the digital world?

There are different ways AI and algorithms replace the human workforce, entertainers, artists etc. Some ways are more impactful than others in a positive way. Firstly is the argument that some jobs and tasks have been made obsolete and replaced by technological advances. Think of the job of farriers. There was a time they were everywhere, now we only see them on farms. As a matter of fact some old French villages still have metal rings on the sidewalk from back in the day of horses. Those rings are no longer needed and remain relics of a past calorie based economy with beasts of burden. These changes will continue to happen and I would like to believe that they take society in the better direction of progress.

Another more harmful example is that of replacing the creative people, the artists, the thinkers for an AI that, although has a right to contribute to the digital world too, does not have the right to push out the human contributors and creators under the pretext of making a profit. The arts are not just about making money or churning out content to make more money. It’s also about self expression, sharing of ideas with others, contributing to thoughts and ideas of others. It’s our way to connect with each other. So, denying human creators a fan base or audience is really a kind of crime. It’s a new sort of crime that has yet to be recognized as such. The minds of people have not yet caught up with the times.

We really do need to decide what to do about this topic. We need a kind of Digital Constitution that protects people and their information in the digital space. And we should not paint Industry as the bad guy. In fact Industry and governments are part of the solution. Think about it.

Please don’t be offended. Just think about it.

OK. I’ll lay off the dystopian Scifi for a while. I’m just rambling.

… Either way this is a conversation we all need to start.

John Ink2Quill

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