When it comes to the specific topic of technology blogs, in the days that now seem far gone, a few pioneers and aficionados defined the category, reporting on the company that later would be known as Apple and its revolutionary products. The pioneers of investigative reporting became experts, found massive audiences, and constantly inspired millions.
It has already become a tradition for many of the first Apple tech bloggers to wake up one morning only to find out that their names and works are used by AI; this process has become a phenomenon known as AI-zombification This blog will address the problematic nature of this digital dystopia, its ethical issues, and possible ways out.
The blog will focus on the increase in tech blogging and the success of Apple Inc.
It is pertinent to understand the history before going into the current status of these bloggers. The late 1999-till, early 2000s were a critical period of change not only in Apple but in the entire technology industry.
On the Brink of New Tech Journalism
Activists of technical blogging were people who were interested in the technological development that was taking place so rapidly. What these bloggers did was offer detailed critiques, overviews, and news that more traditional outlets sometimes silenced. They created communities, responded to their followers, and evolved into opinion leaders in the sphere of IT.
Apple’s Revolutionary Era
At the same time, Apple also experienced a revolution in the company. Beginning with Steve Jobs’ return right up to developing new models such as the iMac, iPod, and ultimately the iPhone, Apple’s inventions were holding the world’s focus. Tech bloggers were quite useful in chronicling these events and giving guidance on what was bound to happen, coupled with first-hand experience that many Apple devotees found quite helpful.
The AI-Zombification Phenomenon
Jump to the present period, and one will observe the drastic changes that affect the named area. AI has advanced, especially in the areas of content generation and data processing. Yet, these are the new challenges that appear with the new possibilities, and one of these challenges is the transformation of early tech bloggers into AI zombies.
What is AI-Zombification?
AI-zombification means to mimic real people’s personas and writing styles through the use of artificial intelligence without permission. Specifically, the memoir technologically enabled early Apple tech bloggers to discover that their names, styles, and even bodies of work have gone rogue by being AI-processed. These are written by the AI to emulate the actual bloggers to a level that one can barely differentiate between a human and a machine.
How did this happen?
Data Harvesting
Indeed, over the years, numerous text files, such as blog entries, articles, and social media exchanges, have been mined and saved by numerous people.
Training AI Models
This amount of data that’s been fed into sophisticated artificial intelligence models like GPT-3 and other upcoming versions is capable of mimicking writing styles and coming up with realistic texts.
Content Creation
Businesses and online services, eager to turn to the reliability of famous bloggers of the early blogging years, use these AI models to produce new posts as if by the signatories to these names.
The Ethical Dilemma
The situation concerns several ethical questions that must be further discussed:
Consent and Ownership
The first issue is the consent of the original bloggers. With the copyright issue and their rights being violated, intellectual property and cyberspace rights are becoming a question. There are several laws in place in different countries, using which these authors from Apple can choose to sue the AI companies. It is wrong and illegal to use somebody’s work for one’s own use.
It is a form of intellectual property theft and the ones who take part in it can end up going to prison for such a crime.
Violation of Personal Rights
It becomes unlawful to use someone’s name and style in public without their permission because it is a violation of their person’s right to privacy. Every individual has the right to own their work. Thus, by stealing their work, the hacker is carrying out an unlawful activity.
Intellectual Property Theft
Plagiarism, as well as the production of a work that is a derivative of another original work, also pilfers the rights of the original owner of that work.
Trust and authenticity
In fact, it was one of the few types of blogs that amassed popularity on the basis of reliability and honesty. Thereby, the fact that AI-developed bloggers are capable of deceiving the general public undermines this trust.
Erosion of Credibility
It becomes difficult for the readers to differentiate between an article, which has been written by a human and by an AI. Often, when there is AI zombification of the content written by the Apple content writers, some vital information gets twisted. This also leads to the dissemination of false information, which will lead to the erosion of credibility that readers hold in their mind for the authors.
Manipulation and Misinformation
As it will be AI that will be creating the content, there is a possibility of having fake news spread or having a specific agenda that is set a priori to shift public opinion with recognition of the original bloggers.
Effect on the Blogging Society
AI-zombification also influences the non-isolated blogging population.
Loss of Livelihood
Such bloggers who write daily or weekly posts and rely fully on their voice to communicate with the viewers may find themselves out of a job because of AI.
Dilution of Originality
Having AI post all kinds of content limits the variety that is available in the blogging community and makes it even more monotonous.
Conclusion
While finding our way in this ‘new’ digital world, it has become imperative to establish sound theories that would uphold innovation in tandem with social usefulness and more importantly, social morality where technology becomes the enabler not the detractor of creators. It is only possible if these challenges will be tackled, and the role of technology as well as the creativity of people will be incorporated as pillars for constructing the future.
The AI-zombification of the early Apple tech bloggers is a sound reminder of the disastrous effects of technology. Hence, we need to have safe and secure laws in place that will help to keep the content of individuals safe.
Frequently Asked Questions
Is it legal for AI to use somebody else’s work?
No, it is illegal for AI or any kind of internet machine language to copy anybody’s work as it is a form of intellectual property theft.
How does AI-zombification take place?
One has to train the AI model or go through several years of harvested data for AI-zombification to take place.
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