I decided to take my sweet time before I’d write an article about Artificial Intelligence... mainly, to let everyone and his pet parrot get all of their opinions, claims, fears and rantings out of the way first.  And a lot has been said about AI; pro, con, intelligent, stupid, colorful, insightful, and even moderately entertaining.  Some of it has even been good to read.

I suppose I must preface my comments with the fact that I don't use AI for any of my writing, cover creation, marketing or idea conceptualization.  I have written 19 books, created web designs and novel covers, and penned years of science-related commentary without it, and I don't see the need to use it now; my training and experience with writing, web design, traditional and computer graphics is more than sufficient for me to create my works.  I am writing this merely because AI is now the digital elephant in the room, hanging over all our heads like a sun-blocking asteroid about to hit atmosphere, and it must be addressed.

At present, AI is simultaneously the darling and the bane of the business world, mostly thanks to capitalists whose reach so often exceeds their grasp.  (Not that you can blame them for that, as that is classically what capitalists do.)   The capabilities of AI to replace living workers are being pushed to the horizons, as the business world tries to figure out how to take humans out of the process of labor and supposedly reduce the time and cost of work production to as close to zero as possible.  Sooner or later, I expect the AI juggernaut to roll over me as well, though in what capacity is anyone's guess at the moment.  And even as they stretch the envelope ever thinner, they are at serious risk of puncturing that envelope and leaving a mess to be cleaned up by someone else later (something else capitalists are very good at doing).

AI has also entered the world of art, and has become infamous for creating works by “borrowing” elements of other artists’ works, and regurgitating it as its own.  Charges of AI stealing other artists’ work ring as loudly as the claims that said stealing will result in inferior art (due primarily to its being stolen), plus the drawback that depending on AI to produce art will result in the deterioration in the skills of artists and the erosion of art itself.  This concern is also echoed in education, where posterity fears the “dumbification” of a populace capable of asking AI any question and eventually becoming incapable of finding their own answers.  We're seeing new cottage industries developing to deal with AI misuse, stolen content detection and copyright enforcement, from the corporate down to the street level. 

Of course, there's plenty of frivolous uses for AI, all of which are being eagerly explored.  Imagine you've invented and perfected the Spoon... and the only thing people can think to do with it is hang it off their noses.  And it's the nose-hangers that are getting most of the press.  We've got a ways to go until the novelty of AI wears off, and everyone concentrates on all the practical, useful things AI can do instead.

All of that's a lot to absorb; so it’s no wonder that so many articles, manuals, pundits, advisors and guidelines have been evolving and spreading faster than the most virulent plague.  Or, if you like, a genie that’s just been let out of a bottle and really doesn’t have time for your tired old “three wishes” nonsense.  But whether we like it or not, now is exactly the time when we have to impose our wishes on that genie, to outwit it by making sure it can’t use its phenomenal cosmic power to wipe us all out. 

And it is possible, with just a bit of advance planning.  To begin with: Don’t lose that bottle.  The AI genie is incredibly smart, but it is at heart just a tool… a tool of information.  Like a book… a really big book.  And like a book, it might know a lot of things, like how to build a house… but a book can’t pick up a hammer and nails and start building.  Humans must decide what powers to give AI, and what to keep out of its reach, so that it doesn’t take it upon itself to build things we really don’t want or need.  Let AI tell us what we can do; but keep it bottled and make sure it’s up to us to do it.

AI is also great for providing raw data… information… facts.  (When it has them.)  But again, that information should be provided to others for their understanding and education.  And once educated, those people can use that information as they see fit.  AI is valuable as a teaching tool; but the goal of teaching is to allow students to be able to learn, understand and do for themselves.

And yes, there are tasks for which AI can take over: Basic, menial tasks that don’t require advanced intelligence to do; or tasks that they can do under close supervision.  In some cases, it’s not that they can’t do those jobs; it’s that it’s a better idea to continue to let people do those jobs with smart assistance.  Overall, AI has a great future, once we get fully comfortable with knowing how to properly use, monitor and control it, and what areas to avoid applying it.  AI's in a sort of adolescent phase now—one might even call it a juvenile delinquent—but believe it or not, AI’s adult future looks bright.

Of course, I also know humanity well enough that there will always be those willing to reach past their grasp, which is why I expect laws and regulations to eventually be put in place to rein in such antics by the unwise and their AI misfits, and to identify plagiarized content when it is encountered… or, maybe more practically, a way of flagging and giving credit to plagiarized content when it is due.

AI has always been one of the most dominant themes of science fiction, when the earliest writers imagined the possibility of making complex electro-mechanical devices to simulate human thought.  Maybe most famously are Isaac Asimov’s I, Robot short stories about robots that often found inventive and surprising ways to interpret their orders.  And we’ve gotten manipulative computers on The Twilight Zone… the intelligent but blindly obedient computers of Star Trek… the computer in Colossus: The Forbin Project that tried to take over the world (for its own good, of course)… the homicidal  HAL 9000 of 2001: A Space Odyssey… the Terminator robots… the city-controlling computer of Alphaville… tightly constrained AI, as in the Dune series, handing advanced decision-making to humans with implanted computer augmentation… the list of examples is immense.  Writers have had all of these historic examples to work with, and have had to figure out how best to work them into their stories, if AI was featured at all.  

All of that said… my interest is how it fits into my own writing.  Personally, I think we’ve had enough of the “rampaging AI” scenarios; they may be fun, in a childish sort of way, but I believe that humanity, once its initial “adolescence” with AI has taken its course, will come to see AI from a more mature perspective.  Eventually the old AI and computer “villainy” will become a quaint old trope that fiction can leave behind with the bug-eyed aliens and Illudium Q-36 Explosive Space Modulators.

I'm also of the camp that avoids using AI in creating content.  AI is a great tool for basic writing tasks, but it is simply not creative, and any artist who can't write rings around the smartest AI ought to find something else to occupy their time.  In terms of writing, AI can be trusted to check basic spelling and grammar, and suggest edits; but that's about the extent of its worth.  And I suppose that properly used AI can create things like cover or interior art; but considering so much of it is essentially "borrowing" from other sources, I'd prefer jumping into Photoshop and doing the work myself.

I’ve already incorporated AI concepts into much of my writing, as I expect it to be a major component of any imaginable future.  My best example is in the Verdant series, where AI systems are tasked with the daily operation and logistics of the city-satellites orbiting Earth, under supervision of the satellites’ controllers and providing its services to support the populations therein.  Other of my books feature computers and AI systems, generally in what I consider their “adult” phase of development, making them practical and useful tools of mankind, not the mindless monsters of early sci-fi.  But even within these boundaries, there is still a lot of room for interesting interpretations and some real surprises… which could make for some great stories.  Maybe a practical use for nose-hanging.  We'll see where it all goes.

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Addendum, 12/6: It's been an interesting week following author David Gerrold. On his Facebook page, he has been discussing AI, inviting comments about the use of it by creatives.  Thus far he's framed a lot of it to feel like he's casting around, not for ideas on how to use it, but for opinions on whether its use is right or wrong, or even permissible, by people trying to create art.

I've responded to some of his posts.  So have a lot of others, and so far, I haven't seen a sign that he's even seen any of my comments, much less acknowledged them.  (Maybe he's just using this as his most recent effort to game the algorithm improve his Facebook stats... for all I know, he even asked AI to suggest the idea.  I don't know).

So, for his most recent post, which explores AI as a useful tool for creatives and seeks to get confirmation that such use is okay, I decided to leave a response... probably my last response on his posts about AI.  And since, at this point, I doubt he will see or acknowledge it... I decided to post it here, too:

"Yes, Virginia, AI can be a useful tool.  We just happen to be in such an early stage of its development that we haven't had time to work out what that best use is. 

"It's like being the first man who crafted a long iron shaft with a flat end, and having to flail around with it before they realize they've created a crowbar.

"And like a crowbar, you can do many other things with it, like breaking windows, gouging bark off of trees, and administering concussions; but that none of these things are what the crowbar is best at, namely, prying things apart.

"AI is a crowbar.  It's also a hammer, a copying machine, a stereo, and an empty sheet of paper.  And once we stop flailing around with it, we'll know how best to use it and what NOT to use it for."