Artificial intelligence covers a wide range of activities. For our purposes here, we will simply use the idea of something done by a computer.
It is interesting to watch the bias people have towards computers, right up to the point where they embrace them. By this, we are referring specifically to the output.
Generative AI is going to penetrate everything. This is putting many people on edge. Those who are involved with industries that create content, such as Hollywood, have reason to fear. Their jobs are going away, and probably rather quickly.
That said, we also see this translate into consumers. We see many who are rejecting the idea of consuming AI generated content. What is most fascinating is this is nothing more than a bias people have.
In fact, history shows, people operate in exactly the opposite manner.
Automation is widely embraced, even if it is first rejected.
Humans Prefer Humans...Until They Prefer AI
By the end of the decade, the overwhelming percentage of content that is consumed will be generated by computers. By overwhelming, my guess is we are looking at greater than 90%.
Of course, to many, this seems absurd. Unfortunately, for them, it is something that is misaligned with history.
Some believe they will "never consume AI content". The question is where does this bias come from? On top of that, it is reality?
The answer to the second question is no. People consume computer generated content daily.
Does anyone really care that the email reminder (or text) to pay the mobile bill was done by a computer? Do people opt out of reading it because of that?
When we consider all that use to be done by humans but is now automated, it is stunning. The problem is that most are not old enough to remember a time when things were manual.
For example, when was the last time you looked up directions using a road map? There are many who do not even know how to read one. It is an obsolete talent. At the same time, does anyone care that a computer is spitting out the information?
How many news articles are read daily that are done by computers? Most of the traditional media switched to AI writing of articles. They are still proofread and edited by humans but the bulk are generated.
We spent decades caring none that our calculations, i.e. everything to do with numbers, was done by computers. There is not a number we see on any website that was not generated by a computer (human comments aside).
AI Poetry
We are now starting to see research that backs up what I am referring to. It shows how people simply follow what they always did.
This means that embracing AI output is a foregone conclusion even with the "arts".
Nothing is more "artsy" than poetry. We know the creative endeavors within this realm extend back centuries. Surely, this could not adequately be done by a computer.
It appears this is not the case. Actually, studies are showing that AI poetry is actually preferred over humans.
Scientific Reports - AI-generated poetry is indistinguishable from human-written poetry and is rated more favorably
In summary, Study 2 finds that participants consistently rate AI-generated poetry more highly than the poetry of well-known human poets across a variety of factors. Regardless of a poem’s actual authorship, participants consistently rate poems more highly when told that a poem is written by a human poet, as compared to being told that a poem was generated by AI. The preference for AI-generated poetry at least partially explains the “more human than human” phenomenon found in Study 1: when controlling for participants’ ratings, AI-generated poems are no longer more likely to be judged human.
I posted the summary in this article but the link will take you to the write up of the entire study. The analysis is rather in depth, using a scientific approach. Thus, we are not looking at some blind survey using a thumbs up or down.
Does this mean every piece of poetry in the future will be generated by AI? In other words, are people going to stop writing poetry? The answer is no.
There is always going to be a place for human generated content. However, automation takes over each of the realms to the point where it completely dominates.
Photography is a prime example. When it comes to portraits, are most today done via painting or photograph? We know the answer to this. How many ever had their portrait painted? Yet, there was a time when this was the only way portraits were done. Technology destroyed the prospects of portrait painters.
AI Evolution And Human Embracing
What will it be like when most of the content we consume is generated by a computer? The answer is "normal".
Consider the fact that your mobile phone was built almost exclusively by machines. There is very little human labor involved.
Most of us have seen images of what an automotive line looks like today.
Automation means machines taking over. In the cognitive world, that means AI which will only keep getting better.
I predicted that online video ads will be almost exclusively AI generated by the end of 2025. In other words, we are going to see a clip online, generated by a computer, and will not even give it a second thought.
This is how it historically worked. Technology, especially automation, enters and we don't even notice. Unless someone is in the industry affected, we simply carry on, not realizing how much was taken over by computers (and robots).
Generative AI is going to change everything. One of the first areas is with the content we consume. More of it will be generated by computers.