Shocked describes all of us regarding “Artificial Intelligence." Upon receiving information, how do we know if it is real, when a machine-learned program can formulate the report better than a person?

Certainly, as technology improves, this task becomes harder and harder to detect. Remember the old television commercial, “Is it real or is it Memorex?” The implication is the quality is so great, we cannot determine whether the voice is in real time or a recording, leaving an indelible impression on us.

Now we are concerned AI may be copying our voice and mannerisms so well, our privacy and bank accounts may be vulnerable. So what is the answer? The bad news is there may not be good news on this front. The closest to a detection of AI use is discernment.

Think of a child who was asked if he had eaten any cookies. He answered, “No”, but crumbs were all over his mouth.  It was not hard to discern a dishonest answer with the clues of this circumstantial evidence.

Or consider the criminal, who testifies the crime was not committed by him, but the lie detector machine indicates the testimony is a falsehood. Certain clues during his interrogation could possibly indicate a lie.

Discernment of artificial information is very difficult and one must constantly be on-guard. If suspicious, questions should be asked such as, does the information follow the same style and pattern as the person you know? Can you easily verify by contacting the sender? Are you trying to be rushed?

I realize the discussion has been about concerns, but much good has come and is to come from AI.  We are using AI more than we realize in present day. However, when a machine is basing a decision on bad intelligence entered into the system, we could be in real trouble.  Remember the old saying from when computers first came into vogue, GIGO (garbage in and garbage out). My question is how does a computer discern if a decision is based on good data or bad?

Thank you to Dr. Lori Mann Bruce, Provost of Tennessee Technological University for being my inspiration for this article. She spoke to our Rotary Club and was well versed on a topic which is advancing so fast, the experts are having difficulty keeping up with the developments and improvements.

Standard contributor Don Alexander can be contacted at dalexander@southernstandard.com