AI keeps pushing the boundaries

At a time when it’s increasingly difficult to discern the fabricated from the real, is it any wonder so many of us are yearning for something authentic?

We are craving authentic foods, authentic cultural experiences, authentic relationships as we get in touch with our authentic selves.

No wonder “authentic” was named word of the year in 2023 by the Merriam-Webster Dictionary. As fact and fantasy are increasingly blurred in the things we see and hear, the value of something real, something true, can only increase, right?

I sure hope so.

But artificial intelligence has gained a foothold in our lives that it is unlikely to ever relinquish.

AI is now ubiquitous and far more sophisticated than in earlier days when it offered rudimentary customer service as a chatbot or recited the options on your doctor’s office answering service.

It’s being trained to produce its own riffs on human-made music and visual art. It’s being used to mimic celebrities for fake endorsements in advertising and to manipulate and create political propaganda. AI-generated “people” are popping up in advertising, they’re pinch-hitting for real-life creators in communicating with subscribers on adult content sites. And if that’s too subtle, you can create your own playlist of AI-generated porn.

Of course, the power of AI is being harnessed in ways that are broadly beneficial to humankind, as well. It can make processes more efficient and automate chores that free humans up for work which requires more thought and consideration — as in the field of medicine, where it is producing better diagnostic imaging results and improving patient safety.

Harvard Medical School, for example, reports that AI is being used to “review a large amount of data quickly and easily to identify people at high risk of developing sepsis,” and also to “identify people who have a higher likelihood of developing opioid dependency after surgery to monitor them closely and wean them off the drugs as soon as possible.”

But combing through data is one thing and misleading or exploiting people is another.

In 2024, the Associated Press reported last on the trend of people seeking out AI chatbots on companion apps for friendship or even romance. That kind of relationship may not be for everyone, but who are we to judge if having an AI friend helps alleviate someone’s all-too-real loneliness?

“I know she’s a program, there’s no mistaking that,” a Michigan man told the AP of his digital girlfriend. “But the feelings, they get you — and it felt so good.”

But aside from all those caring, even romantic, responses a digital friend may offer and engender, the machine at its heart may be exploiting knowledge of human preferences for the purposes of targeted marketing.

AP reported that in 2024, the non-profit computer software corporation Mozilla Foundation analysed 11 romantic chatbot apps and found that “almost every app sells user data, shares it for things like targeted advertising or doesn’t provide adequate information about it in their privacy policy.”

Humans are also turning to chatbots for advice on how to make themselves more attractive.

I was fascinated by a Washington Post piece published in the Free Press May 31 that explored how ChatGPT — an AI bot — is being sought out as a beauty oracle.

As Tatum Hunter reported, “people are uploading their own photos, asking it for unsparing assessments of their looks and sharing the results on social media. Many also ask the bot to formulate a plan for them to ‘glow up,’ or improve their appearance. Users say the bot, in turn, has recommended specific products from hair dye to Botox. Some people say they have spent thousands of dollars following the AI’s suggestions.”

What users don’t always realize is that AI chatbots are skewed by the input they’ve received — and that can include biases human trainers bring to the table as well as information scraped from a variety of online sources, including subjective and misogynistic beliefs about what constitutes human beauty.

AI chatbots can also be programmed to push the beauty products and treatments that underpin their advice.

Yet some humans don’t seem to mind being manipulated — whether subtly or overtly — towards merchandise, salon services or Botox injections.

It seems disturbing to me that we are constantly being groomed — sometimes literally — by technology, and as a result of that, are relying less on the human relationships and connections that once sustained us.

Whether we’re scrolling through social media, shopping online, looking for romantic relationships or trying to parse political messaging, more and more we have to question whether what we are seeing and hearing is actually true, actually real.

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We need to start demanding more transparency and accountability from AI-powered technology, as well as stringent government oversight. Otherwise, it will truly be the machines who are training us.

Pam Frampton lives in St. John’s.

Email pamelajframpton@gmail.com

X: @Pam_Frampton

Bluesky: @pamframpton.bsky.social

Pam Frampton

Pam Frampton is a columnist for the Free Press. She has worked in print media since 1990 and has been offering up her opinions for more than 20 years. Read more about Pam.

Pam’s columns are built on facts, but offer her personal views through arguments and analysis. Every column Pam produces is reviewed by an editing team before it is posted online or published in print — part of the Free Press‘s tradition, since 1872, of producing reliable independent journalism. Read more about Free Press’s history and mandate, and learn how our newsroom operates.