Midjourney, ChatGPT, Skynet & Co.

The revenge of the machines

The cinema history of the past decades is full of masterpieces describing a far future where machines took control over humans. My favourite one is Terminator. In most cases, the scenario saw mankind on the edge of the disaster, facing a substantial risk of being annihilated and cancelled from Earth by its own “creatures”. The reason was that when machines started to think by themselves, they turned out to be precisely as men were. Selfish and with a neverending thirst for power.

We created movies where AI was an inanimate version of humans.

So, what are we doing? Are we now moving in the direction we fictionally described?

I’ve been reading a lot of discussions about AI in the last months and I’ve not shared any thoughts about it because I wanted to be as much rational as possible.

I’m an IT guy and also a photographer. I wouldn’t dare to say I’m also a writer because creating a few articles here is just not enough for that, however, I like it, so, bear with me on this.

The revolution that’s being introduced by AI is not different from any other technological revolution that happened in history. When new tools are invented, they automatically create discussion, tension and even fear in the professionals who see their work at risk. This is normal. It’s the fear of the uncertain future unveiled by new discoveries. It’s also proved that those who, instead of rejecting innovation, adapted and used the new technology, were able to break the boundaries of their jobs and be successful.

Before starting this post, I wanted to test ChatGPT prompting a discussion about the risk of AI-generated texts for writers. It produced quite a long copy with a few points of attention related to AI, ethics, copyrights and so on.
It sounded reasonable and the concepts are, in my opinion, all correct.

I could have even copied it into this article saving me a lot of time.

But what would have you thought reading that?
I’m ready to bet you would have immediately found out it sounded weird.
Not because of the content, but of the style used to write it. For the words chosen to describe the concepts.

This is the main reason why AI should not be used to replace our work. The risk is to “de-personalize” our creation. And our own personal way of making art is exactly the reason why it works.

Does this mean AI is evil and we should stay away from it?

Absolutely no.

Back to the example of the AI-generated text I mentioned above, I can use it to learn new words and new ways of building a sentence. I can improve my way of writing without changing my style.

The same happens in photography with Midjourney or any other platform for image generation (I personally use Automatic1111 for Stable Diffusion). They create amazing images, but it gets hard to replicate exactly my style. Not impossible, but hard. On the other hand, it’s a fantastic way, for example, to create mood boards. I used the images created by AI to pre-visualise what an idea could become in concrete when going to the studio with a model. And this is just amazing.

This is what tools and technology are made for: to simplify your life and help you do your things in a better and more efficient way.

In any case, nobody can stop evolution. We can only decide to be overwhelmed by it or to use it to our advantage.

“Despite the risks, it's important to note that AI can also offer significant benefits to writers. It can be a valuable tool for idea generation, research, and productivity enhancement. By understanding the risks and responsibly incorporating AI into their writing process, writers can leverage its potential while maintaining their creativity, originality, and ethical standards.”

From ChatGPT

“Hasta la vista, baby!”

Take care and talk soon!