For a long time, the world was grappling with the challenge of keeping the screens at bay; the pandemic lockdowns ironically, only necessitated it. In general, human interactions have been reduced to a bare minimum, with people glued to their devices even beyond their necessities of being educated or discharging duties. The outcome was that instead of rebasing and being in touch with the inner self, people became even more self-centered than before- for it was a matter of survival.

But now, the survival game has been upped and the battle for subsistence is poised to get even more fierce. For one, like it or not, everyone is doomed to use the new weapon. The weapon is like no other- wielders hold a strange relation with the weapon- for they fully trust it but somewhere, in equal measure, are scared by its overall destructive effect as well. This would have been merely a work of fiction a few decades back; now it is very much real- brutally so. For the weapon in question is the AI.

Now here is a joke. A man loses his way in the jungle and soon finds himself surrounded by the dreaded cannibals. Seeing no way, he yells out "Oh my God- I am DOOMED!". To his surprise, the God, audible only to him, responds, "No, my son, you aren't! The man facing you is the tribe's leader. Pick a boulder & kill him!". Confused, yet trusting in his faith, the man spontaneously kills the leader, while the tribe looks at the guy elated by the false positive, in shock. A brief pause later, the voice from above resumes, "Good. NOW you are doomed!". <call hangs>.

Well, powered by curiosity, the man continues reaching yet newer skies beyond the horizons. AI with all the flavors, like ChatGPT, represents one such frontier. With its seemingly infinite knowledge and the ability to generate text on demand, ChatGPT has become the go-to companion for those seeking answers, inspiration, and, of course, a little amusement. Based on the accuracy of prompts (the pin-pointed queries) you supply, the genie in the lamp acts with magical powers to help you write a book, marketing snippet, screenplay, build a tour itinerary, build a programming project based on specific requirements, act as your psychologist/counsellor on and so forth. Drawing from a huge repository of resources like Wikipedia, ChatGPT is the deemed new god, the omniscient, of the virtual metaverse claiming to know it all.

Yet, with the ChatGPT’s current stage of evolution, you know what inferences to draw- when you consider repercussions as well of just using it blindfold. In the not-too-distant past, a US lawyer quoted a random, past case to support his argument in defense of his client in the court of law. Sounding convincing enough initially, when it was put to microscopic examination, the referred case turned out to be bogus and unfounded. The baffling revelation was that the data relied on by the lawyer was churned out by ChatGPT. The lawyer could not hold on to the lie and was seriously reprimanded for misleading the court of law. The lawyer faced the similar fate to the man lost in the jungle!

The preceding example, among many others, highlights that even as AI continues to evolve, people do engage in foolery of sorts. Like that pair of photographers who walked away winning photography awards by fooling the judges with AI-generated images; it is also possible, however well-intentioned, to shoot yourself in the foot by using text/ code that was generated by an AI tool that is trained on copyrighted content. On the other hand, similar forays are being made in fake, but convincing voice & video-generating capabilities, opening possibilities in the near future, of a big rise in new ransom crimes involving unsuspecting target audiences. Well, the future looks scary indeed, especially given that the algorithms that flag any media item as fake are yet to catch up and so do the regulations which fall short as well. While much of AI & data science already made inroads in the curriculum of higher studies, dealing with ethical aspects in application of those very skills forms a negligible part of the courses, rather than forming a central theme! Whoever said that truth is stranger than fiction could not be far from truth!

And yes, there are gloomy economic repercussions as well. While currently the working population is learning the ropes & applying the skills productively to their chosen domains, there are many unfortunate ones, rendered unemployed and struggling with their job-search efforts, trying to fit in, playing by the new rules. And the most impressionable image of AI, in general, refuses to go away- an AI developer hacking a branch off a big tree, jeopardizing the lesser mortals, the “non-niche” software developers perching on that branch, and the latter are doing the same to yet another branch, hosting the general public that is visibly old, indicating the alarming levels of the speed of obsolescence- it reflects the harsh truth the world is trying to live with. The truth is that apart from containing vast potential, it is also churning many people out, into the vicious cycle of economic despair.

We are soon ushering in an era where almost everyone needs to be using the AI ecosystem to survive, lest one stands a chance of losing out big time and quickly becoming irrelevant. AI is to us what personal computers were to people during the 90s. The question is not whether mankind should use or refrain from using it, but how do we make amends to our learning approaches and perspectives to align with the future waiting at our doorstep? AI is like a big sponge that would eventually suck in everyone.

AI indeed offers huge potential in automating the world, provided that mankind uses it as a tool to serve a greater good, instead of becoming slaves to it and serving rather selfish interests. It is vital to acknowledge that AI systems do have their limitations/ threats currently; and to be guided by our moral compass to be aware of overall negative repercussions. So, instead of relying on AI's imperfect brilliance, we should embrace our own human flaws and savor the joys of genuine conversation, where laughter, misunderstandings, and even the occasional verbal stumble can remind us of our shared humanity. After all, who needs a language model when we have the beautiful imperfections of human communication?

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