“How far have we crossed the line?” a question that one may ask when it comes to utilising AI. There has to be a line when it comes to anything, especially technological advancements. Take away the AI, and the world would almost certainly go haywire.
It’s scary to see how quickly the AI is adapting to the machines humans use every day, and with the improper use of AI (mostly due to greediness of humans wanting to see whose AI bots are superior), it’s no surprise that one day humans will be relying completely on the AI for everything.
But of course, just like anything else, AI does have its own perks and uses. I myself use AI chatbots too from time to time, and there’s no shame in doing so. But there are limits to how far we use them.
Even as of now, I already start seeing AI-generated shorts on multiple platforms, including YouTube shorts. You can tell it’s AI generated when humans put no effort in monitoring their work output, at all. Not to mention some billboards I saw that the companies clearly use AI for the artwork, too.
The question is, must everything be produced by AI? When do we draw the line?
AI in Design and Creative Media
This is really obvious. There are so many objections and conflicts revolving around the use of AI in creative media, especially for professional works.
Scroll through the social media, and you see some AI-generated artworks for product marketing or any other promotional content. It tells you a lot about that particular company; surely there aren’t any fresh graduates or experienced workers specialising in creative design that you can hire?
AI-generated artworks are fun to fool around with, sure. But they are NOT meant to be used in professional settings.
I know they resort to AI-generated artworks for these promotional content. AI artworks being free is, of course, one of them. Another reason is that these artworks can be generated in seconds. So, there’s no need for back-and-forth reviews or auditing needed, and definitely no complaints from the workers as well.
Using AI artworks for creative design is just cheap. No argument there.
AI in Professional Written Work/Academic Work or Publications
Written work produced from AI solely, especially academic ones, is absolutely prohibited. There are already arguments about AI models trained from data from every source possible online, and can considered theft in some aspects, so using AI to write your thesis for you is obviously crossing the line.
In other words, you’ll be dealing with not only copyright infringement when publishing professional works using purely AI-generated prompts, but also the extreme reliance on AI for academic tasks undermines the value of human intellect, critical thinking, and problem-solving skills.
It’s genuinely concerning now. Students are relying too much on AI chatbots on doing their assignments for them to the point they’re basically breezing through the semesters with ease — too much ease.
The only thing that separates the book-smart students from the street-smart students in an academic setting now is the examination hall. Sad world we’re living in.
Deepfakes (AI-generated voices and videos of real people)
This is definitely the most concerning out of all. At least with artworks or academic works, we’re dealing with copyright infringement, at most. But deepfakes can do actual harm to people that are involved.
Just about with anything, misuse of AI in generating deepfakes can result in fake news and propaganda, misleading the public and eroding trust in media. We’ve seen propaganda used by some organisations out there, trying to evoke emotions from the public to lure them to their side (but the public knew better, thankfully).
I’ve written an article about AI-generated videos before, talking about the ethical concerns revolving around them. There’s even a YouTube ad produced by Deutsche Telekom that shows you the dangers of misusing the deepfakes to cause slanders and scams that potentially can lead to deaths or suicide (you can check the video here).
It’s no excuse for deepfakes. At the very least, I don’t see any particular use for them. Some use them for humorous purposes, using AI-generated voices of the people we know from real life or video games and turn them into parodies of some sort.
But to me, the harmful effects of deepfakes far outweigh the fun we get from them. It’s just not worth it.
My Verdict
The technology behind AI is rapidly evolving, and it’s increasingly difficult to detect fake content. Thankfully, the younger generation is very well aware of using AI as a tool, and they can detect when the content is generated using these bots.
But there are people who aren’t, and they believe when the content is AI-generated, and this is what I’m worried about.
It’s crucial to develop some sort of awareness when it comes to using AI as a tool. Again, I’m not saying that using AI is strictly prohibited, but there are lines that we shouldn’t cross. Using AI-generated works for brainstorming in professional settings, for example, is completely acceptable, as long as the final product is clearly made by humans.
Enough of AI for now. If you do want to read more about user’s power over social media, feel free to read it here. Otherwise, I have a catalogue of articles for you to check out here; see which one that interests you. As always — we’ll catch up again in another time.
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