AI Isn’t Evil, Humans Just Have a New Tool: Why You Should Ignore the Latest Tech Panic

Just when I thought the latest round of “the sky is falling” had begun to wind down, somebody found a fresh box of matches.

Artificial intelligence is evil, they tell me. To demonstrate this, they have thoughtfully supplied an artificial-intelligence-generated video.

Well, that certainly saves evil the trouble of hiring a publicist.

One video shows an ordinary fellow transformed into a wealthy man surrounded by expensive cars. Another shows a young woman walking down a street at night, then reveals the original performer was a man. Cue the ominous music. Cue the warning. Cue somebody pointing at ChatGPT as though they caught it sneaking out of the henhouse.

Was ChatGPT even the product used? That detail seems to have wandered off before filming.

I think ChatGPT has become the Kleenex of AI. Whatever made the video, whatever company supplied the software, people reach for the familiar name. “Hand me a Kleenex.” “Look what ChatGPT did.” Somewhere, an entirely different product is sitting quietly while Someone else takes the blame.

I have a name for this particular entertainment: TerrorLies.

Take a real capability, stir in a frightening implication, leave out a useful detail or two, and serve it with music suggesting something terrible is coming up the basement stairs.

“Shall we TerrorLies the population today?”

“Certainly. The last one got excellent engagement.”

Now, convincing fabricated footage does deserve our attention. Somebody can use it to mislead, impersonate, or manufacture an event that never happened. Asking who made a video and whether it shows something real is sensible. I would simply appreciate being informed without having my nerves audition for a disaster movie.

Because consumers of this content are missing one part of the production.

The human part.

Somebody chose the subject. Somebody selected the transformation, wrote the warning, added the soundtrack, and pressed publish. There is a person making decisions somewhere behind that spectacular little nightmare.

The common thread running through so many sky-is-falling posts is humans with tools.

A human is going to human. Some are brilliant. Some are kind. Some haven’t learned much about the thing they’re discussing. Some are just mean. Some want attention so badly they’ll set the curtains on fire and announce they’ve discovered a heating system.

Give people a new tool and those differences come right along with them. One person makes a lesson easier to understand. Another creates something beautiful. Another manufactures a panic and checks the numbers before breakfast.

The pitchfork got Wi-Fi.

I can almost see two demons huddled in a corner, watching a human prepare the next frightening production.

“Did you put that idea in his head?”

“No. I came over to borrow it.”

That is the part I keep thinking about: the capacity for cruelty already present in a human soul, and the choices people make when a powerful tool becomes available.

We ought to examine the tool. We ought to examine the claim. And somewhere during all that examination, we ought to remember to look at the person holding it.

Meanwhile, I would like to finish my coffee and watch a porch lizard without being informed that civilization has eleven minutes remaining.

Same old fear. Fresh box of matches.

Sigh. Next.