Storytelling in the age of AI

 

Photo by Lina Kivaka: https://www.pexels.com/photo/woman-reading-book-to-toddler-1741231/

The human facility for storytelling has led mankind to both chronicle its past and inspire the young to aspire to ever greater achievements. From the days of cave dwellers to the era of ebooks, storytelling has defined and epitomised what it meant to be human.

​

Not anymore and any longer in the age of AI, where synthetic and manufactured storytelling looks poised to  and forever destroy an art form that gave us Shakespeare, Kalidas, Milton, Hemingway, and thousands of other luminaries telling tales in different tongues, who shone a light on what it meant to be human.

​

Generative AI is phenomenally good at regurgitating existing writings and producing slickly and neatly written stories that read quite well. Why, it can be prompted to write in the voices of Shakespeare and Tolstoy, and it would even do that remarkably well. But this would be writing without a soul, as a soulless being has fabricated it by efficiently manipulating the original  thoughts and emotions of human beings.

​

AI can simulate human emotions, moods and feelings, but not experience them. Therefore, anything it creates will not connect with living human beings on a primal and spiritual level. AI at present is not fully independent or autonomous and can be manipulated to run the narrative of its handlers. But what happens once it achieves the ability to at last think and take decisions autonomously?

​

What kind of tales will it spin and with what sort of an agenda? It may or may not want to serve human beings’ interests and may push one of its own. Its tales may be of its own and not human making. How scary would that be? We have already seen how harmful the impact of all pervasive social media has had on children and teenagers. This, when  the agenda has been set by large business houses run by flesh and blood individuals.

​

What would happen to the world if machines with super AI capabilities decided that humans are an impediment to their own plans for their future and decided to act against them? Vile propaganda worse than what could be conjured by the most evil and twisted dictator could be a primary weapon in their campaign against humans.

​

Storytelling is a human instinct. To cede its control to AI is to cede control of the destiny and future of the human race to entities that likely don't share the same instinct.

​

When emotional manipulation by greedy corporations who sell us products and services we may not really need is something we so consciously guard against, should we not fight tooth and nail against the advent of soulless, manipulative, and hollow content that threatens to swamp us completely?

​

How will the new Platos and Aristotales emerge from the froth and foam of nonsense created by fake and almost illiterate influencers who craft an untrue narrative using AI tools? The tales told by them don’t evolve the human being, but distorts and devolves them into becoming nitwits and cretins incapable of achieving anything truly wonderful.

​

The old adage that man does not live by bread alone needs to be discovered by mankind. There is more to life than producing goods and services more and more efficiently, even if it means ravaging the Earth and all life on it. Mankind needs emotional bonding within its communities, a sense of a shared destiny, and the urge to learn, grow, and discover. It needs to find time to notice and appreciate beauty and have an urge to strive for greater things in life. It needs to have a quest to understand its place in the universe.

​

Storytelling is both the catalyst and the glue that allows mankind to grow in the most wonderful of ways, even as it keeps it grounded and in harmony with itself and nature. It would be disastrous for us if this enabling facility that has helped us become the most evolved life form outsourced it to machines and algorithms that we have ourselves created.

​

Using AI as a tool in crafting communication in the interest of enhanced efficiency is all very well, but not giving it the job of thinking on behalf of us. We cannot stop thinking for ourselves, as that would leave us with no agency. What are we without free will? The PR and media industry have seen AI being used extensively for carrying out research as well as actually creating content in the shape of text, graphics, and even video. The famous Indian television network India Today, even as an AI anchor.

​

Using AI to inform people of trends or provide detailed analyses of corporate earnings is certainly useful, but perhaps does not resonate very well in the absence of a personal human connection between the narrator and the audience. Not very long ago, Hollywood writers went on a strike, fearing that AI would decimate their profession. While they rightly feared for the future of their livelihood, cinema viewers didn’t weigh in on how having AI dictate stories and screenplays would influence the cultural ethos of their times. Cinema is, after all, more than just business-it is also an art form that needs to be protected from crass commercialisation.

​

Entrenching AI in the business of storytelling will not augur very well for human beings. Relying on algorithms to second guess what will excite emotion in the audience is to try and stymie the ability of human individuals to think originally and create art that moves and uplifts its audience. Brands that understand the importance of storytelling in connecting with their audience on an emotional level should know that synthetic content created by unfeeling AI will not resonate with their audience on a primal level. People crave authenticity and the human voice, which is increasingly being drowned out in the clamour created around more and more AI.

​