MAY 8 — Meta recently announced that it had been using AI to suggest who to follow and was confident that AI content creators were just around the corner.
These are the times when I think that maybe, just maybe the Amish had it right about rejecting PCs, TV and radio.
I do not want to follow an AI bot on whatever social media platform.
Why would I want to follow a code-created influencer when I already get annoyed by those customer service bots you get these days.
“Hello, how may I help you?”
“Speak to a real person please.”
“Hold on, an agent will be with you shortly... you are number 4,256 in queue.”
Still, at least I can go do the dishes while waiting for an actual human to get me a refund for the teh tarik my takeaway vendor forgot to include with my order.
It sure beats being put on hold and wishing for death as you listen to Kitaro's Matsuri in what feels like the audio version of hell.
Another thing I've noticed is that on Facebook, bots are just inserting themselves in replies to posts.
I saw one AI bot claim they had a child and knew exactly what a parent was experiencing.
Now we have robots hallucinating that they're Very Upset Parents — what next?
An AI bot claiming to be our finance minister and declaring a tax rebate for trying to park in Bukit Bintang?
I don't think influencers or any public personality really needs to be worried about being replaced by AI.
What I hope this wave of AI hype and the upcoming bubble burst ushers in is a new wave of authenticity.
Stop trying to tame the algorithm or attempting to optimise your website's SEO.
The bots are numerous and they will swarm you, trying to win through a game of numbers.
Yet a bot can't truly compete with actually having a personality.
A bot doesn't know how to be kind.
A bot can't truly relate and can only make up emotions or anecdotes.
Whatever science fiction might dream up, there is something in being human that is not replicable by modern technology, even when humans are creating said technology.
The actor Bernard Hill passed away on Monday and it wasn't his death that made me weep, but the hundreds upon thousands of tributes from his fans.
It was to be expected that his colleagues would have stories to share but what I loved reading most were from people who hadn't even met him, but were moved by specific lines or performances.
One of my favourite anecdotes about him was from a Lord of the Rings Extended Version featurette.
In a scene, he played King Theoden who had woken up from being a captive thrall to his wicked advisor only to find out that his only son was dead.
He talked about how one line in the scene, “No parent should ever have to bury their child” was not in the script but it was from a bereaved parent, who he had spoken to as part of his preparation for the role.
Hill paid tribute to Peter Jackson's direction, how he was told to not weep while he was saying it but instead have the line be what breaks his composure.
You can watch the scene here:
It isn't even the best of Hill's scenes in the Lord of the Rings trilogy but what it is, is a master class in performance, full of nuance and the right amount of gravity.
Having dabbled in acting once upon a time I know at the very least that what makes acting interesting is that random spark, which actors pray for, what they have been preparing and rehearsing but that they can only hope to happen.
The randomness in AI isn't from inspiration nor does it come from what is still irreplaceable — the human soul.
I just hope that creators or no, we begin to find and reclaim our humanity before we are left to passively watch robots live the dreams that should have been ours.
* This is the personal opinion of the columnist.
