Let me start by saying that I am not an Artificial Intelligence sceptic, but someone who has embraced advanced technology his whole life. For example, when I left home to join the military in 1984, I wanted the best possible Walkman I could afford. I also had the latest Casio keyboard to play music, which had a voice emulator – this was advanced at the time and to this day, I have not stopped embracing technology. I had the first digital assistant, a Psion, then a Palm Pilot, then a Sony Clié. I bought my first EV in 2015 when most people were saying ‘it won’t catch on’ and laughed at me for embracing the future of mobility. All of these things were invented to improve my quality of life, to give me time to enjoy the important things and be creative.
So why am I writing about Actual Intelligence? As human beings, we were created to connect with one another and build relationships for the good of all mankind and all other creatures, flora and fauna that surround us on this planet. In current times, I think people are starting to forget the importance of humanity and all the pleasure it can bring, which includes creativity. I believe human beings are at their best when they collaborate – that’s when things get innovated and invented; it isn’t just about the end product, but the journey we take to create the end product. At this moment, AI is being used to rob these ideas and inventions with no consideration for the creator; this is where imagery and written and video content are being created in a matter of minutes by AI platforms that are taking everything they can find but do not own. There is a train of thought that this is the thinking of large corporates, to take more control over what we do and how we do it, monetising our work as their own, leaving us totally dependent on them to advance. What is happening is incredible, our creativity is being stolen from us, stripped out as datasets of our own content that we have created, and it’s being sold back to us as content a machine has supposedly created. There is no interest in the advancement of the human mind or helping us unleash our creativity.
Thinking of Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs, we have to get the basics of food, warmth and security right for everyone. To deliver this, people need money and the usual way to provide this is through work in return. What is going to happen when AI does pretty much all our thinking and creating? Where does that lead a workforce in need of money to fulfil their most basic needs, never mind to fuel growth of spirit, community and economy?
Our brains are our jewels, with creativity being one of the core dividends this jewel provides. We should be focusing our energies on creating artificial intelligence that will end wars, improve the quality of life of all on the planet and not rob us of our creativity and critical thinking.
We are at a pinnacle moment in time. We are experiencing a climate emergency, rapidly developing war zones and I believe this is unnecessary and unacceptable as an intelligent species with sophisticated societies. But I also believe we can solve these problems with the natural talent that we have all been given, with continued learning and evolution of humanity and mind. Artificial Intelligence can help us with all of this, but it is not the answer. The world has a lot of troubles and people are rightly worried. But if we can remember who we really are, I believe we are more powerful together and more so, collaboratively for the greater good of all.
Join the conversation on how we can harness technology to enhance, not replace, human creativity. Let’s rediscover the power of collaboration for a better, more connected world.
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