Artificial Intelligence. As a techno-optimist, I feel like a surfer who is looking at the biggest wave ever. Yes, there is the ever present danger of “wiping out”, of the artificial intelligence wave wiping out humanity – or humanity as we know it. More knowledgeable people than I have spoken, written and made films or documentaries about the negative side of artificial intelligence.
Kenyan rock band “Rash” sung about “Sons of Robots”
Wearable Android (#ROFFEKEOFFICIALSELECTION2015) by Keita Nishida is a fun look at the human-technology relationship.
Me? I am a techno-optimist. Frankie Valli and The Four Season sung in Walk like a man, “The world isn’t coming to an end” and REM pointed out: “It’s the end of the world as we know it (and I feel fine”)
In May, I watched a webinar by 6 seconds titled “The Inside Path - Trust and Optimism for the Future”. Artificial Intelligence was one of the things that was mentioned as causing people anxiety. The three sub-topics that were covered in the webinar were:
• The role of optimism in creating a positive outlook on the future and fostering hope and excitement about what’s to come.
• The importance of trust in building strong relationships and communities that can support us in achieving our goals.
• How combining trust and optimism can create a sense of empowerment and agency in shaping our own future.
6 Seconds is “a non-profit organization whose mission is to increase the world’s emotional intelligence.”
I am a big fan and student of Emotional Intelligence. I thought Emotional Intelligence was one area that humans would dominate for a long time. Well, I recently learned about Heypi.com from the YouTube Channel “AI News Daily”. The title of the video says it all: "Hey Pi - The Best "Real" Conversation I've Had with an AI Chat Bot"
I tried it out and used Heypi.com to get a review of some sentences from my short story about The Shenganiguns titled “Office Romance”. Watch it here.
One of the things that is causing concern about the fast-pace of AI development and deployment is that there isn’t adequate regulation. There is concern that AI will excarcerbate already existing problems like bias. Enter Claude, an AI that takes into consideration the Declaration of Human Rights. I learned about it from this YouTube video titled “Claude: The Quantum AI that Surpasses ChatGPT (AI with a Conscience!?)".
On December 10th, 2022, ROFFEKE celebrated Human Rights Day with a YouTube playlist of short films and music videos that highlight the declaration of human rights. You can watch it here. Some of the films in the Human Rights playlist are also in the ROFFEKE Borderless Africa playlist, which is part of the Africans Rising “African Liberation Week” events taking place between May 22nd and May 28th.
During Mozilla Festival (March 20th to 25th) my session, titled “Techno-optimism through ROFFEKE rock ‘n’ roll films” featured the Human Rights YouTube playlist that showcased how tools such as YouTube playlists can help people in the global south participate in closed off or not easily accessible spaces. Mozilla Festival had some AI-themed sessions and even some of the non-AI themed sessions did touch on AI in terms of ethics and mental health.
So what is my current stance on Artificial Intelligence? Well, I am riding the AI wave with both excitement and caution. Surf's up!