On April 15th, 1960, unsuspecting viewers across America were treated to the 28th episode of The Twilight Zone. Dubbed A Nice Place To Visit and starring Larry Blyden and Sebastian Cabot, the episode revolved around an expired criminal (Rocky) dropped into a world of luxury and success that bent to every whim of the protagonist without fail, all while accompanied by a jovial and mysterious man known only as ‘Mr. Pip’. Surely, he thought, this must be heaven.
But, of course, this was The Twilight Zone. There is always a catch. In this case, the blessingwas also the curse. Rocky received exactly what he asked for; there would be no deviation, no complications, or innovation. There would also be no feedback. Other than the ‘yes man’jovially fulfilling his every wish, Rocky was on his own. He quickly grew bored, and said that his being in heaven must be a mistake, and he belongs in ‘the other place’.
Mr. Pip simply said ‘This is the other place!’. Cue the evil laugh from the still jovial Mr. Pip and existential dread of the main character, and the episode ended.
How Is AI Like The Twilight Zone?!
Simple; everything is black and white. While that might sound like sarcastic humor, there’s a good bite of truth to it. AI can only work off existing content and information. It cannot generate wholly new ideas or break its own algorithm.
This also relates to why we chose this specific episode as an example; new experiences are a crucial part of what makes something human. This is where the effect known as ‘uncanny valley’ comes from. If a piece of art or literature is too perfect, people notice. It is simply a subconscious reaction baked into our biology.
In other words, we feel safer when we find little imperfections or unique details. We needthose things, or there will always be some level of rejection even if it isn’t outright. You don’t want that with your brand.
Why Bother With AI At All?
Yet again, we’re going to return to the Twilight Zone episode. The blessing is also the curse, but that works the other way too. AI is great at pattern recognition and combing data. After all, search engines all use a form of algorithmic intelligence. Without this, searching the billions of unique pages across the globe would simply not be possible or practical.
In other words, AI is great at grunt work. Need to know everything that happened on April 15th, 1960? Put the algorithm on it. Thanks to a quick search, we now know it was a Friday, and the date had some historical significance. This was also the day the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee, or SNCC was founded. This organization was crucial in organizing the peaceful lunch counter sit-in protests, which paved the way to huge steps in modern civil rights.
We got that information way faster than if you’d had done it the old fashioned way. Without an algorithm to simplify the search, where would you even start? Even if you managed to find the right book or direct source, there would be no guarantee you would find everything we’ve outlined here.
Librarians, Not Philosophers
That’s definitely a positive grade for AI in that department. Not using an algorithm for informational purposes is a huge disadvantage. If anyone at any point in history wrote or copied something to the internet, it is still out there somewhere, waiting to be found.
However, as we know, it cannot create truly new information. Even if you ask it to, AI must take keywords and matching sources, then reconfigure them to suit your request. This is why AI prompts perform better with tags of a recognizable style or with a voice with a lot of samples to mimic.
Don’t let it fool you. It isn’t actually listening to your needs. Even if your request is crystal clear, it will not adapt for anything unforeseen, nor will it make suggestions to help it fit your brand better. AI is simply mathematical code. It has no stake in your satisfaction, nor your success. It is, when broken down to its component parts, a glorified calculator. It goes without saying that calculators do not sign checks.
We will give credit where it is due. It is excellent at cleaning up and restoring old media when digitized, although it is not conclusive. It makes a great starting point. Like any true creative work that sticks with you, it needs a human hand. Good humor, clever color contrasts, and revolutions in music exist because the creator wants to make something great.
This is a philosophy that every entrepreneur can relate to. Why would you settle for easy when you can settle for exceptional? Your clients will notice the difference, even if they aren’t saying anything about it to you directly. First impressions are everything. But, don’t be like Rocky. Make sure there is some heart behind your paradise.
The Good Place
That’s a good place to sign off for now. We know the last post would discuss more of algorithm versus algorithm, but the topic of AI usage as opposed to boutique design warranted a dedicated post. That question seems to be trending recently, and we are happy to offer an explanation as to why you always want boutique over automation.
Next time, we’ll discuss how AI can detect other AI, and what this means for your business. As always, thank you for choosing Tycho SEO for your cybersecurity and search engineoptimization needs. See you on the next Ahead Of The Curve.
