Hi Everyone,
I suppose like everyone else, I am well aware of the news accounts of the impending doom and gloom (Fake News, Runaway Warfare) or the spectacular rise (Enhancement of Human Capabilities) of Artificial Intelligence (AI). While I haven’t jumped straight into a full understanding, especially of its implications for authors, which is critical, it has been at the periphery of my thoughts for several years, and increasingly so over the last few months. I had this vague notion, as I have had with any number of technological advances, that eventually AI would catch up with me, and I in turn would catch up with it.
Well, that time has come along a lot faster than expected. For example, my website manager has used AI-generated images for my blog posts with great results – never mind the occasional hand with six fingers. These images proved fun to create and a lot less expensive than iStock! Saying that, to my knowledge iStock now has an AI component that allows for manipulation of images as well – but at a cost. Also, who hasn’t Googled something in recent weeks to find inquiries answered with an “AI Overview” and sometimes with an even “more detailed explanation,” but always with the caveat “AI responses may include mistakes.”
Robotics or machine intelligence has awed me a bit further in recent days via a BBC Maestro course on writing given by the late Agatha Christie. Yes, you heard that correctly: a course given by the late Agatha Christie. As I vaguely recalled either reading a biography or watching a documentary on Dame Agatha, I thought a course by her might be just as interesting. With a second husband 14 years her junior, Dame Agatha’s life was anything but dull. She is widely credited with inventing the murder mystery genre and is the bestselling novelist of all time.
In the eleven-lesson, two-and-a-half-hour course, I lost the import of the secrets behind her writing because I was so mesmerised by the flawless production. The audio and visual AI enhancements were simply extraordinary. I felt I was being taught by the great writer herself. The team of academics, researchers and creative professionals have put together the next best thing to an actual clone of Agatha Christie. Full credit must also go to Vivien Keene, the actress who played Dame Agatha. What a demonstration of AI as boost to human ability!
While June rolls in and I leave one of my most favourite months, May, when here in Oxford the town boasts vibrant blossoms with cherry trees in full bloom, offering shades of pink and white, I wonder about the playfulness of AI, or the harm. Wisteria, known for its purple blooms, adorns our town’s most ancient buildings. Flowers like cow parsley (delicate white), daffodils, bluebells, and buttercups also add to the happy, colourful scene. A walk along the Oxford Canal is enchanting, at its most verdant at this time of year!
So wherever you are, especially if you happen to be in the Northern Hemisphere, enjoy your spring into summer, and consider this: can we discern AI-generated copy from humanly created work? (Which paragraph do you imagine in this blog to be AI generated, and which not?) Like any tool, such as a sharpened stone for writing to voice-activated text, the journey may be long or short, but it is always finally fun, human and exciting.
Love,
Marlene
Image by MidJourney