AI is taking over Humanity

It was about March 2023 when I first used ChatGPT. I was working at an English school in Korea and one of my jobs was to read the kid’s essay and write a review about it in Korean, for parents to have a look. Of course, I had lots of work to do and I didn’t want to spend too much time on reading and writing, so I decided to try out ChatGPT for the first time. Provided with the essays from the kids and asked to write a short review, about a paragraph for each essay with a sufficient amount of emotions, ChatGPT started to generate the paragraphs immediately. The result was truly amazing. The use of feelings and language was already beyond my expectations. Although the essay was short and easy, with varying topics such as how their holiday went and what their hobbies are, it would have required me a lot of time and thinking process of creating a sincere review with vocabulary that could effectively deliver the message. For me, it was a lifesaver. I had doubts about the ability of AI before then, but this was when I opened up my mind to so many possibilities and potential that AI has, and this was when I started to believe that there would be nothing that AI could not do. 

AI, artificial intelligence is one of the most debatable topics right now - for the government, AI companies, or simply the users for instance. The capability of AI, how trustworthy it is, and to what extent humans should allow them to invade our territory is something that many people are concerned about. Seeing that it is getting more and more difficult to distinguish AI from humans, it can be notably seen that the advancement is rapidly happening and humans might no longer have control over them soon. ChatGPT is one of the most popular AI programs which is easily accessible by the users, for free. According to recent statistics provided by Dave ver Meer published in Name Pepper, there are over 180 million monthly ChatGPT users. Another data provided by Mark Webster tells us that 35% of businesses have already adopted AI, 50% of users are now optimistic about AI, and 43% of businesses are concerned about technology dependence. If we look specifically at ChatGPT and how reliant people are on it, it is surprising to find out that the launch of ChatGPT for the public only happened back in November 2022, less than two years ago. If the public is using them so frequently, the amount that professionals would be depending on AI is assumed to be much more than we expect. Already from my experience, I couldn’t trust myself with my work if it was not reviewed by AI. Despite the convenience, the dependence on AI started to worry me.

An American short story writer David Means’ article, A.I. Can’t Write My Cat Story Because It Hasn’t Feel What I Feel published in 2023 talks about the limitations of AI that Means thinks of. By the title, it can be assumed that Means believes in the limits of what AI can do. Means says in the essay “I’m not going to pick a fight with A.I., or even argue with the fact that this technology can mimic artwork, or assist humans in the creation of art … A.I. will never be able to do what I can do because A.I. has never felt what I’ve felt.” What’s interesting is that he doesn’t deny the advance of technology or human aspects getting invaded yet he still does not think that AI can create real art. What simply matters for him is that A.I. won’t be able to do what he does - to experience, feel and create a work. There is something that he values the most, as a form of ‘original work.’ Originality, which “lies in the conception before the work is published or exhibited,” (Means) is what matters the most to him. What he values more than the final product is the process behind that, the thinking and endeavour lying behind that is the crucial part of creating art. 

Many people are concerned with AI taking over all the human work. In an article by Lauren Leffer ‘AI Anxiety’ Is on the Rise, she says “Specific worries include a lack of protection for online data privacy, the prospect of job loss, the opportunity for students to cheat and even the possibility of overall human obsolescence.” As mentioned by Leffer, the few reasons why people are worried about AI are because of the fear of losing jobs and maybe losing the point of being human as technology starts to do everything for us. Here, an especially shocking consequence is human obsolescence. It got me thinking about the purpose of human beings and why the idea of ‘obsolescence’ is worrying. As told by Mike Brooks in his article What is the Purpose of Life? “purpose of our lives is to continue to evolve during our lifetime by learning and growing.” How I perceived both Leffer and Brooks' phrases is that humans will slowly lose their place in this world since AI does everything for them, and eventually lose their point of living. 

Despite these concerns, Means is confident that AI won’t be able to do what humans do since it has never experienced what we do, specifically in the art field. The AI analytics company SAS describes the logic behind AI as the adaptation through progressive learning algorithms to let the data do the programming. This means that AI is a tool which gathers all the information provided and teaches itself to produce works. This is also how humans operate - to experience and adopt lessons learnt from life. The difference is that AI goes through the learning process from the sources that aren't its own experience and humans can physically and mentally experience life. In other words, the results generated by AI are a sequence of theories that AI has learnt whereas humans can feel everything by heart. This is probably what Means suggests by “AI has never felt what I felt” (Means) and this is the answer to the people’s concern from the author’s point of view. AI can never take over humans fully.

According to the interview of Means and Alec Niedenthal in 2020, it could be seen that Means is an author that has attached much importance to experience already since then. This interview is mostly about Means’ novel Hystopia and discusses what's special about the development of Means’ stories as well as the characters. Some of the important aspects dealt with are how Means thinks about the distinction between reality and fiction, the flow of time within the story, emotions that lie behind that, ethics and violence, how stories relate to religion and how he perceives comedy. What’s interesting throughout the interview is the emphasis Means put on emotions that are only able to be derived from experience. This links back to the previous claim of himself in A.I. Can’t Write My Cat Story. He also says “Storytelling is a tool, a very human way of understanding, of exposing the mystery.” Here again, Means shows us how he perceives the story as; It’s a narrative, or a record of process that narrates what’s in a human's head in a unique individual way. 

Means’ short story, Chance the Cat shows both his beliefs on AI and the experience mentioned above. All the components that make up the whole story are based on his personal experiences and the emotions he felt in those situations. At first, it might seem like it is a simple story about a black cat named Chance and a couple: the story of how a young couple met, how they discovered their cat, what their life was like, how their relationship developed and so on. However, what Means explores is the ‘essence,’ the important things in our life. The text repeats its question about specific events, asking ‘Does it matter?’ and answering if it is or not. For example, the story asks if it mattered that Kayla, one of the main characters, was doing her graduate work and answers that what mattered was an incident where Kayla and William - another main character - had their first conversation and how they later got into a relationship. My understanding of why this is important is because being involved in a conversation with someone and developing those conversations into relationships is something that only humans can do. Looking at the beauty of human relationships, I believe Means would have agreed that this is also an art. In fact, the process of writing a story of characters falling in love was already a form of art according to Means himself, since it involved a process of thinking and making that came out of his original ideas. He would also agree that AI would not be able to create this kind of art where it requires the art of process and experience. Going back to the structure of the story, most of the questions and answers progress in this way of journey to discover the essence. Looking at this, it is not easy to distinguish between what is important and what is not. However, to sum up, the core idea is that what matters the most is the instinct rather than what happened, something that touched your heart rather than the surface of the story, and the story of the experience. After all, what matters the most is something that affects you as a human, in the process of moulding you to be a human being and giving you lessons. 

Now we know what stance Means is taking in terms of story writing as well as this opinion on AI. However, in one way, we need to look at reality as well, apart from abstract ideas. Where A.I. Can’t Write My Cat Story focuses on perspectives from artists, especially Means himself, this article AI Will Transform the Global Economy by Kristalina Georgieva published by the International Monetary Fund, deals with a practical view on how AI will affect the job market, countries, the world economy and how we should get ready. It is first crucial to understand the difference between the economic point of view and the artistic point of view. Whereas artists involve feelings and hearts, economists deal with efficiency and practicality. Therefore, the sectors we are looking at are completely different yet two writers, Georgieva and Means, came up with a common idea. Georgieva, just like Means, says that AI will be part of our life. Rather than showing only the negative effect that AI will have on our society, Georgieva suggests how technology and humans can live harmoniously. “As a result, advanced economies face greater risks from AI - but also more opportunities to leverage its benefits” (Georgieva) shows how humans can change this conflicting time into an opportunity. This will happen mostly based on AI and humans complementing each other. It is interesting to see this statement from Georgieva since this is what I experienced myself while working and using AI. Working with AI boosted the efficiency as well as the quality of work. Along with that, since the work I was involved in, working with kids’ essays did not contain any top secrets and that was why the use of AI was much more acceptable. Yet, seeing various problems such as confidentiality and inequalities grow even more with the advancement of AI, I agree with Georgieva’s opinion that solutions for people are needed.  

There are two representative occasions where AI is used. One is in an educational environment and another is in the workplace. First to explore is educational places such as college. There is a meme where it says “When I see the surgeon and it's my friend that used ChatGPT to pass his exam.” (unknown) that comes with the worrying face of a patient. It is self-explanatory, that the patient is not fully trusting the surgeon that is in charge because the patient knew the surgeon passed his exams with the help of AI, rather than his own knowledge. This is an effective example of why the use of AI can be worrying in educational environments. As per the meme above, the reason why it is especially concerning in special industries such as the medical field is because they deal with human lives and this won’t be the only case for the medical field. This is also an example where the consequences from the educational environment continue to the workplace. Places such as college are where students learn and gain knowledge that will be useful throughout their lives, and as AI interferes, the knowledge might not be fully developed. Yet, setting the boundary of what is acceptable and what is not is a difficult task. As technology advances, it is also true that we need to accept the change. For example, everything was on paper before and now we see students with tablets and laptops during the lecture. AI is in a different context than that, but it is something that humanities should live along with.

Another environment is the workplace. Here, it seems like the use of AI is more acceptable than in an educational environment. “The implementation of AI in the workplace helps augment staff performance, streamline human resources operations, improve employee experience, and promote cross-team collaboration,” said Aleksandr Ahramovich in his article AI in the Workplace. This suggests how industries are anticipating improvement in efficiency and quality of work by using AI. Unlike college, business is where the greatest profit is prioritized. There is no reason for them to use AI which boosts productivity. Apart from ChatGPT, various AI tools can be used in the workplace such as Gamma - for PPT, Perplexity - for fast and efficient internet searching, Vrew - for video making, and Midjourney - which generates images. Some of these tools such as Gamma and Vrew would be extremely helpful since what those do are simple works. Yet, it would be human’s job to provide them with prompts and ideas - this is where Means kicks in saying there is something that only humans can do. What matters for Means even more than humans providing prompts would be that humans went through a process of creating the idea, although it would have required less complication than creating art. However, there are some concerns regarding these technologies as well, mostly regarding the leak of confidential information and copyright problems. There also was an incident in Samsung, Korea where the use of ChatGPT was restricted due to worries about confidential codes getting leaked (SBS News). That is why numerous companies set regulations regarding the extent to which workers can use AI and to protect customer’s privacy. This goes along slightly with the idea of Georgieva saying there needs to be regulations according to the change, and I would say specifically on countermeasures for unintended outcomes.

My thoughts on AI changed in the process of going through various sources, especially from the ones my Means. My original thought was that all the jobs would be eliminated eventually. However, now I know that there are many more possibilities for the future that we live in with advanced technology. Among the people who are exposed to AI frequently, the ability to write prompts and scenarios is starting to be considered an important skill that humans need to obtain shortly as a defence against invading technology. This again goes back to Means’ belief that the work of creation and the process behind that is something that only humans can do. No matter how advanced the AI is, there will always be a place for humans to stand and better than that will be AI and humans to live along, having a positive impact on each other. 

As we can see, there are a lot of debates going on from different perspectives. We cannot say who is right or wrong since the situation we are facing is new to everyone and because everyone’s opinions are persuasive. What I think is important is to set the boundaries for where AI can interfere in our lives and when we should act when unintended consequences start to arise. Moreover, AI won’t be able to take over humans fully. 

Works Cited

Ahramovich, Aleksandr. “AI in the Workplace: Top Trends, 10 Use Cases, Benefits & Challenges.” Itransition, 12 September 2023, https://www.itransition.com/ai/workplace. Accessed 22 February 2024.

“Artificial Intelligence (AI): What it is and why it matters.” SAS, https://www.sas.com/en_us/insights/analytics/what-is-artificial-intelligence.html. Accessed 16 February 2024.

Brooks, Mike. “What Is the Purpose of Life?” Psychology Today, 2 October 2023, https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/blog/tech-happy-life/202010/what-is-the-purpose-of-life. Accessed 22 February 2024.

Georgieva, Kristalina. “AI Will Transform the Global Economy. Let's Make Sure It Benefits Humanity.” International Monetary Fund, 14 January 2024, https://www.imf.org/en/Blogs/Articles/2024/01/14/ai-will-transform-the-global-economy-lets-make-sure-it-benefits-humanity. Accessed 16 February 2024.

Leffer, Lauren. “'AI Anxiety' Is on the Rise--Here's How to Manage It.” Scientific American, 2 October 2023, https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/ai-anxiety-is-on-the-rise-heres-how-to-manage-it/. Accessed 16 February 2024.

Means, David. ““Chance the Cat,” by David Means.” The New Yorker, 15 January 2024, https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2024/01/22/what-matters-about-chance-fiction-david-means. Accessed 16 February 2024.

Means, David. “Opinion | A.I. Can't Write My Cat Story Because It Hasn't Felt What I Feel.” The New York Times, 26 March 2023, https://www.nytimes.com/2023/03/26/opinion/ai-art-fiction.html. Accessed 16 February 2024.

Means, David, and Alec Niedenthal. “DAVID MEANS with Alec Niedenthal – The Brooklyn Rail.” The Brooklyn Rail, March 2020, https://brooklynrail.org/2020/03/fiction/DAVID-MEANS-with-Alec-Niedenthal. Accessed 16 February 2024.

Meer, Dave ver. “Number of ChatGPT Users and Key Stats (Feb 2024).” Name Pepper, 12 February 2024, https://www.namepepper.com/chatgpt-users. Accessed 16 February 2024.

“Report: AI boosts productivity and paychecks in the workplace.” About Amazon, 7 December 2023, https://www.aboutamazon.com/news/aws/how-ai-changes-workplaces-aws-report. Accessed 20 February 2024.

SBS. “개발자가 올린 코드에 '깜짝'…삼성전자 '챗GPT 금지령' (자막뉴스) / SBS.” YouTube, 4 May 2023, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pqtx80aFiNk. Accessed 22 February 2024.

Webster, Mark. “149 AI Statistics: The Present and Future of AI [2024 Stats].” Authority Hacker, 10 January 2024, https://www.authorityhacker.com/ai-statistics/. Accessed 16 February 2024.