These daily reports about this new thing called AI (Artificial Intelligence) have invaded our planet from who knows where without warning. As someone who writes from my soul, this invasion frightens me. My community of writers all are asking each other, “And what exactly is this AI thing?” Is it a bird, is it a plane? No, it’s a dredge of fake creations invading the space once championed by those whose writings come from a spiritual place.

In my opinion, Artificial Intelligence is like artificial sweetener or fake news — it’s not real. It is a compilation of millions of technology components from far too many sources to count, some not reliable. This hodgepodge of mixed messages can create a false level of comfort for those looking for an easy way to produce the written word or operate mechanisms in our daily life — just let the invaders do it. Inch by inch, it feels as if our gift of thinking for ourselves is being eliminated.

And this phenomenon probably started to hatch when humans began looking for easier ways to do everything. We used to add and subtract with our fingers, but hitting those buttons on a calculator was so much easier. There was something comforting about making a cup of coffee step by step, a few scoops of fragrant grinds at a time with 3 -4 cups of fresh water as in the movements of our favorite dance move. It seemed almost therapeutic. But now we live in a completely mechanical world. For anyone who has met their three score and ten Biblical marker years, the rest of the young world looks at us as if we are retarded. But let that technology go awry; who’s the retarded ones now? Have you ever been in line at McDonald’s and the computers went down? How many of those young people could calculate the correct change owed?

There is an interesting caveat to my opposition to AI, however. It has been woven into my everyday existence and writing life for some time without my even thinking about it. Siri and Alexis are on the lips of even our two-year-olds to make the lights come on, wash a load of clothes or change the channels on our TVs. There are self-driving and self-parking cars, and also talking remotes for everything. I was recently a passenger in a new Tesla auto and felt like I was in the belly of this beast called Artificial Intelligence. All of my friends know I still insist on driving a car that starts with a key. Even with my stubborn resistance, I depend on the auto spell correct built into my computer software, and I am hooked on Grammarly to edit my punctuation and word flow in my writing.

So, do I simply welcome every invader of my thinking space and be thankful that something out there can think for me? I will not be surrendering my already shrinking brain matter that easily. We must all be willing to make sensible judgments on what decisions are being made for us. Every decision may not be the best one for you.

Even as I write this blog, “an invader” is suggesting the next letter to type or the next few words to use. I intend to continue controlling some of my abilities, especially the one called thinking for myself. And until I transition to the great beyond, I will hold on desperately to those few remaining parts that God gifted me.

The Old School Turtle Queen Speaks