AI: A BLESSING OR A THREAT?

I got a troubled mind.. My heart is beating abnormally. I have decided to be quiet for a while now. I can't anymore. It is now glaring that we need to turn sticks to a cutlass because there is danger in Lóngé’s farm. AI is gradually becoming the iceberg that may wreck the Titanic ship of creativity. Like Fredrick Fleet that year, I spotted the iceberg from afar. I am announcing it. I am shouting at the top of my voice now, before the iceberg of AI sinks the Titanic ship of creativity. Maybe we still have time to turn the wheel. The truth is — Before AI came along, there were other tools: typewriters, pens, papers, dictionaries, thesauruses, computers, word processors e. t.c Each one landed in its own time. Each one made writing and creativity easier. Then AI landed like sky vehicle. The writing and creative industry at large rejoiced. Everyone erupted in cheers. “A blessing to humanity.” “This is more sophisticated and advanced.” “It will make work easier and faster.” And yes, it did. But a blessing to creativity is gradually becoming a threat. AI has made some writers become lackadaisical. Nobody wants to stress their brain anymore. One or two prompts, boom! you have an entire idea generated like a snap of the fingers. It could have been better if it had stopped there. But it didn't. Now, it has generated a lot of brouhaha in the industry. The industry has erupted like spectators in a football stadium—not in cheers, but in lamentation. It is so painful. A tool created to make creativity easier is beginning to make people question creativity itself. A well crafted piece is now quickly labelled “AI.” A carefully woven paragraph becomes suspicious. Using certain punctuation marks can have the whole work flagged A writer who has dined and wined with words suddenly needs to prove that those words are his. AI is now used to evaluate the work written by humans. They called it an AI detector. AI detecting AI in human written works. It's sad and funny concurrently. And this aches my heart “Where are we going?” Because good writing did not begin with AI. Before AI could arrange words, humans were already arranging words. Before AI could generate stories, humans had already been telling stories around fires,under the moonlight, in books, in newspapers, on typewriters, and later on computers. Before AI could produce poetry, humans had already been bleeding on papers. So why are we suddenly suspicious? Yea, I understand that one slave can make people abuse hundreds of slaves alike. But we shouldn't use one or two person excesses to judge others. And that's why I am shouting. We still have good writers out there. Those who can breathe life into words. They can paint the gloomy wall with ink. How do you expect them to feel, after putting their sweat and everything they've into their craft, only to be accused of using AI because their works shared similar traits with AI generated writings. Is human imitating AI or AI imitating humans? Who is the source? The creator is who? Who should be accused of copying the other? Something is not adding up. And that can be so discouraging. Or maybe the issue is no longer AI itself. Perhaps the issue is that we are gradually surrendering to it. Our imagination. Our curiosity. Our ability to sit with an empty page and wrestle with an idea until something meaningful emerges. The ability to think critically. The ability to create. And perhaps, that's what gives birth to the sudden suspicion — doubt of authenticity. And that's why I am shouting Like a town crier, I am announcing the doom afar. Maybe the wheel can still be turned. Maybe the iceberg is still far enough away. Maybe we still have time to avert the tragedy ahead. @Àdùní

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