Artificial Intelligence is one of the hottest topics of debate, especially in the world of education, but did you know that in 2021 a group of people attempted to dedicate a day to it? Artificial Intelligence Appreciation Day was declared July 16, 2021, by a company known as A.I. Heart LLC. There is little information about the company, and honestly, I am not sure if it still exists, yet I was still interested in the further attempted integration of Artificial Intelligence in our daily lives.
Discussion about A.I. has been around for almost a century by this point, whether that be created by the imaginations of sci-fi writers or its foundation by ambitious researchers. From only being officially recognized in the 1940s by the scientists who developed the Turing Test, a test to see if a machine can convince another human of being human itself, all the way to the modern world of A.I. generated art that can sometimes even pass off as being real, it becomes easy to see how weary one may be about the future.
Whether you love it or hate it, A.I. is becoming a significant part of our modern world, and it affects everyone. As a writer myself, it paves a rocky road for my career and millions of other creative artists like me, yet in other ways, it can significantly help to progress our society in ways that our small-mindedness may never process. Stuck at the digital crossroads, I decided to look through some of our literature at the library to try to find something to help sway the vote to protect the integrity of the human race, or possibly even defend our proclaimed enemy.
First of all, “What is ChatGPT Doing…and Why Does It Work?” that is the question asked by Stephen Wolfram in this new addition to our collection. While ChatGPT isn’t the first, and most definitely won’t be the last, A.I. to take over the internet and classroom, it is still an extremely powerful tool. Wolfram goes into detail explaining how this chatbot works and how it has quickly engrained itself in our society, I highly recommend this book to anyone who doesn’t fully understand the technology and story behind Artificial Intelligence as we dive deeper into the “Age of A.I.”
It is impossible to ignore A.I.’s presence online, and as the old saying goes “if you can’t beat ’em, join ’em.” Ethan Mollick also delves into explaining the world of A.I. in his book “Co-Intelligence: Living and Working with AI” but also takes one step deeper and discusses how we as a society can grow alongside it and continue to be creators in a digital world. Similarly, “The Creative Act: A Way of Being” by Rick Rubin explores the world of creativity through the media of short stories and poems, attempting to prove that our imaginative minds can withstand the power of A.I. and thrive alongside it. I’ve flipped through many of these powerful poems and tales and find them to be extremely telling on the balance of modern-day technology and creativity.
Another new addition to our library is a memoir by Joy Buolamwini, where Dr. Buolamwini explains her experiences at the forefront of A.I. research and the effects it has on humanity in “Unmasking AI: My Mission to Protect What is Human in a World of Machines.” Buolamwini goes far beyond the surface of understanding A.I.’s impact on the digital realm and explores everything from civil rights to sexuality and gender, and even disability. This book is an amazing reflection of aspiration and limitation on the creators of A.I. and the human race, writing for and against the debate of A.I.
Now, turning to my favorite part of the A.I. discussion, the speculative novels on what a world controlled by Artificial Intelligence may look like. “The Memory Librarian: And Other Stories of a Dirty Computer” by Janelle Monáe is a collection of interconnected stories set in a future completely controlled by A.I., exploring the themes of memory, identity, freedom, and resistance against oppressive regimes. Throughout the collection, Monáe’s storytelling blends speculative fiction with social commentary, reflecting on contemporary issues through the lens of futuristic technology and societal control.
For the young adult audience, “Illuminae” by Amie Kaufman and Jay Kristoff is another set-in-the-future novel that unfolds through a series of documents, including emails, military files, medical reports, and more, creating a unique and immersive reading experience. The team of main characters face off against various dystopian struggles, including the team’s own Artificial Intelligence system. Another novel, this one a graphic novel is “Pixels of You” by Ananth Hirish and Yuko Ota, following the friendship of a human and A.I. as they grow and understand one another’s methodical ways of thinking through a beautiful narrative and art style.
With all that said, my personal favorite tale of growth and love between the A.I. and human worlds is in Kazuo Ishiguro’s “Klara and the Sun.” I read this novel in my Sci-Fi class with Professor Randy Robertson this past spring semester and immediately fell in love with the novel. In this story, we follow an Artificial Friend or A.F. named Klara as she is adopted into a family, forming a close bond with the family’s daughter, Josie. This is the only book on the list that follows the perspective of an A.I., and I find the narrative to be stunningly beautiful, complex, and extremely telling. I don’t know which side of the A.I. debate I fall on, but reading many of these books that defend and attack the topic has provided me a deeper understanding to the technological world, and I highly recommend that you do the same. Happy Artificial Intelligence Appreciation Day!
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