Masuk Free Press

The past two years have marked a significant explosion in what many call the “AI bubble.” ChatGPT took the world by storm, and every company is trying to get their share of the AI pie. Apple is working to implement Apple Intelligence on their devices, Google with Gemini and Samsung with Samsung AI. What do I think of all of this? I think this might be the worst trend the tech industry has ever seen. Quite frankly, it may be the Michael Jordan of terrible ideas.

It is not the first time the tech industry has hopped on a trend and rode it to death. The dot-com bubble is an example, where investors rushed to invest in the internet during its infancy in the 1990s. Then, it all burst, and the industry took years to recover, as startups that had thousands of dollars of investments exploded. They say history repeats itself, and I think the signs that such a thing will happen with AI are already here. 

First, let’s reflect on the most recent news regarding AI. Elon Musk unveiled his “Optimus” robots, which were supposed to show the pinnacle of AI and robotics, and become consumer commodities. Ignoring the insurmountable amount of privacy and safety concerns, they were not even fully AI: the robots were partly controlled by humans. To give you an idea of what that means, while walking was completely autonomous, speaking and advanced actions such as pouring a drink into a glass were human-controlled. Again, investors hear the word AI, and it simply passes through their brains thinking it’s pronounced “money.” 

But maybe it’s not all bad. AI is already in our Google searches, and clearly it’s beneficial. For example, when Google first launched its Gemini AI and integrated it into Google, users were told that to make the cheese stick better on a pizza, they could utilize glue. The source? A Reddit post where a redditor sarcastically suggested the same fix. When asked about these same hallucinations (when AI communicates false information), AI developers simply said it’s a small annoyance, and should be ignored, because everybody knows to not put glue on their pizza. But, there are greater implications. What if someone googled how to disinfect a cut and was told to pour soda on the wound? What if someone was in a foreign country during an emergency, and googled what the phone number was for the emergency services, only to be directed to the local Pizza Hut? These may sound far-fetched, but AI hallucinations are a real fear that visionaries of the technology claim are just minor inconveniences.

Okay, what about AI art? The revolutionary new way to quickly create images has already had drastic consequences. For example, users on Twitter have been able to forge hateful images depicting minorities, and spread false information about real-world events. Not only that, but as AI video generation continues to improve, the risk of fake news grows even greater.  People can create a video of the Eiffel Tower on fire, and get hundreds of thousands of likes and comments from confused netizens in disbelief that such a landmark is burning. And, to just keep adding layers to this disgusting cake, Amazon’s bookstore has been flooded by AI-generated children’s books, so much so to where Amazon placed a limit on how many books you could publish per day on their website. This doesn’t even include the threat it poses to real artists, which brings me to my concluding point.

AI as a tool can be useful. I will admit that the possibilities it has in terms of medical applications are absolutely astounding, and is certainly a great use of the software. However, when companies attempt to replace jobs with AI, that is when the issue arises. Lionsgate is already working with Runway, an AI corporation to replace jobs held by storyboard artists and VFX artists. Sports Illustrated was caught generating articles with AI instead of writing real, creative news stories. To just keep adding on to this mess, Google Search has been flooded with AI art instead of actual art; search “fantasy landscape,” enter images and the first results are poorly generated AI creations. Artists, developers, musicians and many more are all at risk, while companies continue to boast that “AI will never replace human art” despite their willingness to use the application. 

So where does this leave us? The truth is, not in a good place. AI runs free without prevention in order to keep investors happy. Generated art is used to forge misinformation and hate quicker than ever before. People’s entire livelihoods are at stake, and if left unchecked, in the words of Masuk student Sebastian Riera, “We all remember Terminator, right?”