Sorry, I’m Afraid I Can’t Do That

by Dawn DeBraal

Please welcome Dawn DeBraal back to the Writer's Journey Blog with her take on Artificial Intelligence!

Sorry, I’m Afraid I Can’t Do That

I am old, and I don't take change well. Just about the time you get used to working with something, change comes along.

A few years ago, I believe I was one of the last hold outs for the Facebook "upgrade." They graciously allowed you to push a button to restore your page to "classic" mode. Ah, back to the tried and true. And then, one day, they didn't let you go back. Instant panic. My mouth was dry, and I started to hyperventilate. What was I going to do? I hadn't taken the time to learn the new way because I didn't want the change; it took me so long to learn the old way. Eventually, I forgot how nice things were on the old Facebook format and learned to live with the new and "improved" version, having been force-fed by the machine.

Fast forward. Artificial Intelligence. No one is prepared for this, just like we weren't prepared for the Facebook upgrade. Suddenly, I have a co-pilot program that pops up in my writing program. I wasn't invited to fly the plane, but a co-pilot constantly tells me to rewrite my sentences. Sure, they might be the proper form of writing, but they lose the individual voice when it becomes mechanical.  I renewed my Microsoft 365 writing program, which was a good deal because it included storage. My sixty-dollar program is now nearly one hundred to pay for the AI component they've introduced. I couldn't figure out how to disable the AI and pay the lesser fee. I'm old, remember? So, I ate the total cost.

My son, a computer programmer who is not afraid of technology, sets parameters for AI to write a story.  He sat down with me and showed me what he wanted the program to do, and it wrote a story right there; it was a bad story, but it was something on paper.

"AI stories are always overdramatic and intense," he told me, because that was how you could tell they were AI. I don't like that they have been using authors' work to train AI without asking permission or offering compensation.

I also purchase Grammarly to check my writing because I was never good with punctuation and grammar, and that also has AI that offers advice. It is more frustrating than helpful to me because it doesn't know what the story is about, and if you give someone a name like Hat Wakefield, it doesn't understand that Hat is not a hat but a name.

Now, I'll bring up the incredible amount of energy that needs to be expended to recreate the human brain. Elon Musk built his supercomputer xAI outside the Memphis, TN, area, claiming to use a lower number of methane gas turbines. He was allowed to use them for 364 days without a permit. He has gone over those 364 days and is using many more turbines than he previously claimed, and he has yet to apply for a permit.  

Of course, he built his supercomputer in an area with a less affluent population who cannot afford to legally fight what he is doing to the air quality in and around Memphis.

I read stories about AI solving some difficult medical problems that scientists have been working on for years, but I also read about AI learning to lie and deceive its creator. This is reminiscent of the movie 2001: A Space Odyssey, where H.A.L., the computer, takes over the spaceship. As humanity gets lazier and lazier, allowing machines to do their thinking, man is giving his independence over to the machine.

A friend of mine has several young people working under his leadership. He told me a story about the young people who work for him, stating that if AI doesn't have a solution to a problem at work, it can't be solved. He is an engineer and knows it can be done, but he feels young people can't see a solution without using AI to help them complete a job.

"They can't think for themselves," he lamented.

How far will AI go? Will they operate on humans? Is compassion a thing of the past regarding Patient/Doctor relations? Will they solve the world's problems or become part of them in their own rogue way?

I was young and impressionable when I saw 2001: A Space Oddity back in 1968, and I was in breath-holding terror when Hal said, "I'm sorry, Dave. I'm afraid I can't do that."  Man was no longer in control...

If the current proposed legislation passes, we could not be saved from AI gone bad. The upcoming Senate bill suggests that no State has the right to restrict AI for ten years. By that time, it may be too late.

So, learn AI; don't use it to write your stories, robbing you of your imagination. Make sure YOU are still in the driver's seat because you will never want to hear, "Sorry (insert your name here), I'm afraid I can't do that." You have lost control.

BIO: Dawn DeBraal lives in rural Wisconsin and has published over 700 short stories, poems, and drabbles, in many online ezines and printed anthologies including two novels. The Lord's Prayer, A Series in Horror which won the Literary Global Book award, and under the pen name of Garrison McKnight, what the hell happened to joan? Dawn was a finalist in the Owl Canyon Hackathon 2023, runner-up in the 2022 Short Story Horror Contest, Author of the Month Spillwords x2, Contributor of the Year 2023 Spillwords Magazine, Member of the Month in The World of Myth x2, Your Daily Poem contest winner, 2012. The Falling Star Magazine nominated her for the 2019 Pushcart Award, a song published in the House of Harmony, International Habitat for Humanity Song Book, and a finalist in the "Great American Song Writing Contest." 2016.