A few days ago, more than a thousand artificial intelligence specialists gathered in Montreal where the World Artificial Intelligence Summit was held. The aim of the meeting was to study the new capabilities of this future technology which apparently promises to change the future of humanity.
AI, for those like me who didn’t know it, is a set of theories and techniques aimed at creating systems or machines that can simulate the cognitive faculties of humans and perform functions that depend on them. Vast program, de Gaulle would say.
One of my friends, who wanted me to discover the wonders that AI is already able to accomplish, suggested that I connect to chat.openai.com, and ask the mysterious and anonymous artificial intelligence to tell me everything that she knew about me.
No sooner said than done.
The first three lines about me are accurate (and flattering): “Alain Stanké is a well-known Canadian writer, editor and media person. He wrote numerous books throughout his career and was also an influential publisher. »
“He was crowned with the National Order of Quebec and the Order of Francophones of America (!)”
(I swear I never received this reward. It must have gotten lost in the mail.)
“Here are some of his best-known works.”
(Except that I don’t know them! And this is precisely where everything goes wrong…)
My life in three acts : In this autobiographical book, Alain Stanké recounts his life in three acts, marked by his childhood in Europe, his arrival in Canada as an immigrant, and his career in the world of publishing.
The dictation : This novel tells the story of a man who, by learning to write correctly in French, discovers the subtleties of the language and the issues linked to cultural identity.
(I would like to point out, very humbly, that I have never written a novel in my life!)
The first title of a book — which I never wrote — should please Putin: Russians are our friends. In this book, artificial intelligence claims, Stanké explores his Russian origins and his attachment to Russian culture, while addressing themes such as immigration and cultural diversity in Canada.
(Important detail: I am not Russian!)
Tell me the sounds : This is a collection of short stories that explore various aspects of everyday life, from love to loneliness to nostalgia.
Alain Stanké has also published collective works, including Mixtures which explores intercultural relations in Canada.
Write to live, write to dream : In this book, the author shares his thoughts on the craft of writing and the challenges of writing.
The doll : Another novel (did you say novel again?) where Stanké explores the themes of memory, childhood and identity.
The other face : This book addresses the question of cultural identity and the quest for oneself through the story of a man who discovers his Jewish roots. (Jewish? Oops. So there you have it! I’m not Jewish! Unbelievers could contact my urologist who will make it a point to confirm to them that I am not circumcised.)
It is true that during the Last World War I was interned in a concentration camp, but the brilliant artificial intelligence should know — what everyone knows — that the German concentration camps did not only house Jews!
The books that are (falsely) attributed to me are pure fantasy. Chase away the artificial, it comes back at a gallop. As proof: I have written around thirty works, but ChatGPT has not managed to discover a single one.
At the time, not so long ago, when AI did not yet exist, when someone wrote something stupid on our account, we could pick up their phone (not necessarily smart) and demand that the irresponsible person retracts. The fact that we cannot help the wrongdoer who artificially claims to be “intelligent” is not reassuring.
Faced with this sad experience, I would say that it takes a huge dose of conceit to want to compare yourself to human intelligence. Of course, she is sometimes wrong, but isn’t a mistake preferable to stupidity?
The great ambition of the designers of artificial intelligence is to make us forget that it is artificial and that it can do as well as human intelligence. There is a long way to go!