AI as its name implies is Artificial. Print is real and permanent, there is nothing artificial about it. However we need not confuse real and permanent with truth.  More about that later…

AI is the Bill Mason of thieves and the Pinocchio of liars.  It roams the internet stealing your content and it adds or creates images and photos of things that are not there.  Manipulated photos that we used to call illustrations.

Until you can depend on AI to be a fact checker, which you can’t, because it only regurgitates what is out there on the net (and there are a lot of things not on the net) plus a lot of things are not necessarily true. Remember Fake News? There is plenty of that on the net.

Don’t use AI to create but use it to help you suggest what you need to  create.  Keep in mind AI is not a creator; it is a curator, and a poor one in that respect. It may disguise itself as a creator, but beware of its creation. As I used to tell my students, “ just because you give me the source, it still can be plagiarism.”

But that is one of many problems with AI and content.  It is dead wrong a lot of times. Here an example of what I mean: If I ask one of the AI platforms to tell me who is the founder of Ohio magazine for example, here is one answer I received: “Ohio Magazine was founded by Dianne K. Binns in 1984. She started it with the goal of highlighting the people, places, and events of Ohio.”   

Three weeks later I asked the same question to the same AI platform.  Here is its answer, “ Ohio Magazine was founded in 1984 by Clem and Carol W. Price. They created the publication to highlight the people, places, and culture of Ohio.”

So who really founded Ohio magazine? Here is the correct answer courtesy of the printed first issue of Ohio magazine dated April 1978 that I have in my collection.  The only search I needed to do is to look at the cover and  open to the magazine to the masthead page: “Larry C. Flynt, Founder and Chairman of the Board, Althea Flynt, Publisher.”  Ohio magazine was founded by the man of Hustler’s fame Larry Flynt himself. Now, maybe AI will give you the correct answer after it roams the net again and steal my answer on who founded Ohio magazine.

You may say this is but one example. I do have more, but I will spare you the rest because I am sure you catch my drift.

And remember, I called AI Pinocchio when it comes to pictures and illustrations.  I know modifying images and illustrations is not knew.  Artists and photographer did it from the time illustrations and photos were invented.  Remember photo shopping a picture or airbrushing one?  Even when we created an image from multiple images or created a picture of a model, those are still an illustration. 

Now AI can create fake pictures, deepfakes as they are called now.  Take a look at this pictures of an Eagle with its babies circulating all over social media.  It is an AI generated picture and it is fake.  Why? Baby eagles don’t get their bald heads until they are 4 or 5 years of age, and not at birth.  I don’t need to recount all the fake pictures that have been circulating lately on the net, I will be encouraging the dissemination of such

Before you call me a luddite, I know there are many many good uses for AI, but when it comes to content and pictures authors beware.

A thief and a liar never introduce themselves to you as a thief and a liar, so be careful be very careful. 

Until my next musing, I am going to relax, sit on my favorite chair, grab one of my magazine from a century ago and enjoy…

All the best,

Samir “Mr. Magazine™” Husni, Ph.D.