Wazenbaum’s Frankenstein: When AI is Writing Poetry and Painting Some Art.
Well, he did say it was abominable and “index of the insanity of our world.”
I’ve been meaning to write about AI for a long time and I have several drafts on my blog. I just don’t really know where to start, and there are so many aspects to write. Whenever I try to express something about AI something came up and I had to revise some of my draft since my understanding also expanded.
Is AI scary? Is AI beneficial? Just like any technological advancement, it has always been a double-edged sword. But one thing that motivated me to write again about it was when Exurb1a finally talked about it. It was the first time I heard about the chatbot inventor: Joseph Waizenbaum. I read a fascinating writing about him (available on text and spotify long reads podcast)
An unknown scientist has the most interesting life story; they have become unknown for a reason. But mostly for being morally correct. Admit it we love the tragic story of problematic, mad genius or tortured artist. Waizenbaum is a prudent scientist, he was famous for being careful about technology as he stated it is mostly related to the military. He’s not wrong, I think. But not only the military, it’s by people with power in general.
I have never really thought the “future” is like this: humans doing manual hard labor and AI is writing poetry, and essays, and the most surprising one is creating art. When we look back, we have always thought with technology humans’ lives will be easier. We will focus on creative tasks while robots are doing the hard labor. Honestly, I have never thought it would be such a plot twist: in 2022 we are living the opposite.
We have always thought that illustration will never be replaced by robots, but now more and more people use AI instead of hiring actual artists. As someone who’s always had a soft spot for the incredible talent of human illustrators (especially horror ones), this discovery left me both mind-blown and a bit concerned. I know some illustrators, and it makes them concerned too. I mean we know the “fingers” of AI and other flaws, but still, AI subscription is cheaper option in the long run despite illustrator’s rate is usually lower than it cost to subscribe to ChatGPT.
Personally, I think writing is the heart of human expression. I love writing and I love reading. I never thought that writing also be taken over by AI. My partner teaches creative writing at the school he’s working at and we discussed a little bit about AI writing becoming less and less distinguishable for people who don’t have literate habits. He once said that AI writing feels “cold”. To him, there’s something missing in the warmth and personality that a human touch brings to words on a page, even for a personal letter that is supposedly honest, we know it was written by AI. He and I agree if we know someone enough, we will know that it’s written by the person or by chatgpt. I also check a lot of essays for my work and the more I read and use chatgpt, the more I see the pattern: sophisticated words, connecting between phrases, and even the “idea”.
It’s kind of funny how AI-generated art and writing share a couple of common traits. First off, they both can come across as a bit soulless. There’s this missing element of genuine human emotion that you can’t help but notice. They tend to be quite repetitive and mostly get the idea from what people upload on the internet. It’s like they’re stuck on a loop, regurgitating the same patterns and ideas without us feeding it.
As we move forward into the future, it’s going to be fascinating to see whether Joseph Weizenbaum’s concerns about AI’s impact on creativity and human connection become a reality or not. Weizenbaum’s cautionary words remind us to tread carefully and consider the potential consequences as AI continues to evolve and integrate into our creative processes. While AI continues to advance and play a growing role in various creative domains, including art and writing, the essence of genuine human expression and emotional depth is a challenge for machines to replicate fully. Time will tell whether these concerns are realized or if AI, in its development, finds ways to complement and enhance, rather than replace, the rich essence of human creativity.
