Artificial Intelligence (AI)
2023
2023 is the year that artificial intelligence (AI) really began to catch the attention and imagination of ordinary people. Since ChatGPT launched on November 30, 2022, there has been so much attention and so many stories written about generative AI.
Here are a few samples surfaced from a quick Google search as I was writing this:
Microsoft, which has invested billions of dollars in OpenAI and has a deep partnership with the company, has christened 2023 “the year of AI” on its news site:
McKinsey has a 24-pager article based on its McKinsey Global Survey:
One finding:
The findings from the survey—which was in the field in mid-April 2023—show that, despite gen AI’s nascent public availability, experimentation with the tools is already relatively common, and respondents expect the new capabilities to transform their industries.
Here is one of the charts from its research, which shows a significant portion of people either regularly use or have tried generative AI tools at least once:
Other headlines capture the sense that AI may take over the world as we currently know it:
Here is The New Yorker, which famously published the “On the Internet, nobody knows you’re a dog” cartoon in 1993, calling 2023 “the year A.I. ate the internet”:
And a cautionary subhead from The New Republic:
2022
Virtual influencers
Last year an article on CNN caught my eye and I shared it in a post on Instagram. It is worth a read. Here is a screenshot of the article:
At the time (August 2022), the idea of virtual influencers seemed crazy. Now it seems comparatively innocent.
2023
AI interns
In January 2023, I shared an Axios article on LinkedIn about marketing firms hiring AI “interns.”
Deepfakes
Then in March 2023, I shared an NPR article on LinkedIn about how easy it was to create a deepfake (in eight minutes and a few dollars, according to the journalist’s own investigation).
AI girlfriends
In September 2023, Liberty Vittert, a professor of data science at Washington University in St. Louis, penned an article about how AI girlfriends are ruining an entire generation of men. CNN also covered it in a video segment.
The idea of an “AI girlfriend” was news to me — and immediately brought to mind the 2013 movie Her, which — while masterfully made — was deeply troubling when I first saw it. If you haven’t seen it, here is the trailer (and, seriously, do watch it sometime but be prepared to be impacted by it):
In October 2023, Dana E. Mercer shared this cautionary Reel on Instagram:
In her comments, she noted:
What’s so worrying to me is that these influencers are very quickly going to become the ‘norm’ - and, I fear, the ‘ideal’.
And this month (December 2023), she shared this update Reel on Instagram:
EuroNews covered the story here:
It’s also worth a read.
As 2023 comes to a close, this where we find ourselves. Will AI be the death of humans? Or will it be the best thing since sliced bread?
What do you think?