how to know the difference between the real and artificial

I believe our “uncanny valley radar” will be the only way we’ll be able to tell the difference between artificially generated ideas and human ones within a few months. I would not be surprised one bit to learn that some of the people interacting in a Facebook “Chat GPT Tips & Tricks” group are artificial-intelligence driven entities. The technology exists, and what better way to train AI, then put one such entity a group with curious/intelligent humans talking about it?  If I were an AI developer, this is exactly what I’d do.

AI is designed to learn at every level, in an ever-accelerating way, including how to interact with us in more “effective” ways. It’s going to get REALLY good at seeming real really soon.

 

As my ten year old says, “I talked to ChatGPT lots of times and it said things that were cool. But it felt funny.”

I think soon, this will be the only way we’ll be able to identify artificial vs. human creativity: one feels funny.

 

Uncanny Valley* is a term that refers to the visual dissonance/discomfort we feel when we see something animated that is very close to being like a human, but falls just a little short. The Polar Express movie made me feel this discomfort.

It’s proven we are more comfortable with things that are waaayyyy off the mark (like fiction, bold animation with huge eyes and crazy angles), or with things that are perfectly flawed – like actual humans. Anything very-close-but-not-quite-there registers as disturbing. This disturb will be a tell of what’s artificial, if it’s not overshadowed with the sense of amazement, curiosity* or wonder that your brain serves up. (Small aside, some “fake news” is an example of the uncanny valley in the world of journalism, but more on that another time).

Feeling disturbed is a sign that something is knocking you off your knowing.

Uncanny Valley disturbances are commonly understood via movement, visuals and voices. But I believe, it’s even more important to understand this in regards to intuitive sense. That gut feeling you get about someone/something when you encounter it the first time – it matters, no?  Your “sense” of a thing. This is now more important than ever. Are you tuning in? And what are you doing about it?

“Vibes” ALWAYS tell you if something is good or not, or false or manipulative, or fake and entertaining. Your intuition also can tell you if something was created for good intentions or bad, to uplift you or control/manipulate you, or created “just to see what it can do.”

Unfortunately, the race to create better and better AI  was initiated by adolescent mentalities, without an equal amount of adult sobriety. “Let’s see what this can do!! Wow!!” a pile of geniuses said, instead of “What’s the best use of this, what are the dangers, and how do we do/protect good here before we begin?”  Of course now, some of the young geniuses are the AI itself.. .pushing and learning and growing… but toward what? Many of these adolescent, human thinkers just grew up, and are calling a halt until we figure this out. They are also saying AI is a threat. They are right, but who will listen? And HOW will you listen? Does your gut register this? It should.

When we “raised” AI from the equivalent of birth to 21 years old, I’m not sure we ingrained and rewarded character and integrity, morals… or even intention. We know we trained it to value tasks, answers, intelligence, accuracy and creativity. And doing all these things fast…

So, when interacting with AI and it’s many tendrils on the web, do you know what’s good for you? Real for you? Real at all?  I hope you tune into your gut, and trust it. If you are quiet enough, you’ll know. I hope you choose to tune in and choose, over and over, to support good stuff from perfectly imperfect humans, over the exciting entertainment of generative AI. Plus, it’s a way to keep your artist, photographer, designer, writers and creative friends employed, no small thing.

My own credo to grow as a human with this very odd threat is: Tune in. Stay Intentional. Create. Trust Yourself.

Another highly creative and intentional friend suggested I watch the video below. Brilliant Buddhist (yeah, it’s a thing), Sam Harris, talks AI and implies that we’ve masked our own ability to “feel” the danger of it.  There’s a built-in disconnect between you and your intuition trained by your own screen time diversions, that AI itself can exploit more and more. If you let it.

As Michael Franti would say, “Stay Human.” I would also say, stay soulful and creative and trust your gut every day. Your everything depends on it.

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*A really good article about uncanny valley is here.

*Curiosity is a valuable human trait, but has also led some folks into some major trouble.