A.I.

 Artificial intelligence is everywhere. In search engines on the internet. In our email accounts. On our phone. On the interwebs. (Internet, the World Wide Web.) But, what the heck is it?!?

I will confess, I am in the dark ages when it comes to this topic. I can remember life before the internet. Before computers even. I'm lucky I own a cellphone, not two plastic cups attached with string.

I remember reading a headline recently about this topic, which they referred to as "AI." I didn't understand the headline. For a few seconds, I thought I was reading something spelled "AL." I just sat there thinking, "Who is AL??" Yes, I actually thought that these fine journalists had written an article about someone named Albert or Alan, about how dangerous he was, and they had decided to affectionately refer to them as "AL." 

"You Can Call Me AL"-Paul Simon

So, to prevent any confusion on my part, when I write on this topic, I will refer to it as "A.I.", with periods denoting the two different letters. I don't know anyone named AL, and thus I won't be writing about them. 

As a writer and an artist, I can't conceive of  time that I would ever use A.I. in any way. It's true, there are things I wished in the digital world:

                   -an emoji for soda (or pop-meaning a cold caffeinated beverage)

                   -an emoji for hot chocolate

In my world, these examples should exist. There should be a soda bottle emoji. Granted, the Contour bottle is a trademarked design of the Coca-Cola Company. But, emoji makers can make a cylindrical bottle with "soda" written on it, with bubbles coming out the top of it.

Similarly, emoji designers can create a hot chocolate emoji, which in my mind, would look like a tall coffee mug, in a winter or Christmas theme, with whipped cream on the top. The closest I can come, when telling someone I'm enjoying a cup of hot chocolate, is to use the coffee cup emoji and the chocolate bar emoji. 

If there are any emoji designers out there for Apple and Android, please design these emojis. I need more emojis for my beverage choices! There's a boba tea emoji for heaven's sake!! Let's make it happen! Together we can do great things!!

Again, this example is in the digital world, creating digital content. But, I live in the analog world. Most of my writing is done with pen and paper, before I finally get to my tablet-or a computer-to type it all out, as I'm doing now. 

A.I. isn't something I would utilize as a writer. I would never think to utilize an A.I. tool to write something for me. My writing is in my voice, which, like my singing voice, is unique to me. Yes, an A.I. platform could be manipulated to generate something in my writing style, to sound like me. However, I assure you, this is me. The words you are reading are mine. They have come from my brain to my fingers, to the keyboard, to the blog, to every corner of the world that has an internet connection. Nothing I have written was ever created by A.I. What you see is what you get, folks. I'm the real McCoy.

"This is Me", from "The Greatest Showman"

As an artist, I do understand that these dangers exist. Hollywood has created an A.I. generated actress. Veteran actors are fighting legal battles to prevent their name, voice, and likeness being manipulated to generate content. There's a famous video starring two Hollywood actors engaged in a fight scene. The video is A.I. generated; the scene was never shot, it never took place. It's the same for singers, songwriters, as well as photographers and visual artists as well. Forgers have been duplicating famous works in the art world for decades, it's nothing new. Any form of art is in danger of being manipulated. 

In publishing my work into the digital world, it's much the same. This new reality came onto my radar last year when I began the publishing process for my last book, "The Notebook." In loading my content to the Amazon platform, there is now a section where A.I. generated content must be declared. If anything you're publishing on Amazon has been created by A.I., you have to declare it. 

This is my sixteenth year as a writer. I founded my publishing company, La Luna Press, L.L.C., thirteen years ago. I've published twelve books to date. I now do solemnly swear, as God as my witness, that I have never used any A.I. tool, in any way, shape, or form, to create any of my writing, or in the publishing process. 

Everything I have ever written has come from the same place: my brain. The only intelligence conveyed in my writing is my own. Where else could the weird and wonderful content, that is my writing, come from?

My writing is organic and natural. It's original to me, it's unique to me. It's authentic.

Bingo, there we have it. Looking into the future, you will never get Artificial Intelligence from me. Simply Authentic Intelligence. 

         

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