IIn my long life I have had to get my head around massive technological changes. When I was young, I relied on my knowledge of the milling tables, and counted on my fingers, to add up. It took me weeks to master the revolutionary Amstrad word processor. The only telephone was in the hall, calls strictly rationed by my father. Over the years, I’ve braved the wrath of my grandchildren, and now Google, Zoom and unmute with the best of them.
But the latest incomprehensible technical revolution has discouraged me. I seriously fear that I won’t have mastered artificial intelligence until I’ve moved on to a world where, hopefully, the most I’ll have to deal with are some old-fashioned golden gates, and there’ll be a pretty angel to explain how it works
I understand Tom Hanks appears in a new film in which, with the help of AI, he plays himself as a boy and young man. They call it aging. I am not sure if his body is included in this miracle. If they only aged my face and it was on top of my withered, limp body, the effect would be macabre.
The implications for my profession of this technology are complicated. One trivial benefit occurs to me. It must be so difficult for a beautiful woman or handsome man to see that appearance deteriorate, and indeed for some whose careers are largely based on their glamour, the loss affects employment opportunities. Now, perhaps instead of the usually ineffective, sometimes tragic results of cosmetic surgery, hair dye and thick makeup, they can be aged by AI, and continue to play the glamorous roles they make their living from.
Can I be made to look 14? Does this mean I can play Juliet? I vaguely understand that a compilation of all my old performances is being made to guess what I would look like in the role. Some AI approaches can even do the acting for me. But surely that doesn’t allow for some of the perhaps quirky, unexpected interpretive choices I might have followed had I actually played it?
I was recently sent a demo of some songs that someone wanted me to record and perform that used an AI version of my voice superimposed on orchestrations used by Garland, Streisand, etc. The only problem is that the voice, compiled from previous performances, sounds much better than I will be able to summon in reality. Presumably, once I’m scanned, a version of me is created that can be put into any show. I can’t wait to do Naked Attraction.
I recently watched a few episodes of the TV series The Sweeney. If they created a new AI version of one, which I assume they could, I can’t believe it would capture the wit, anger, and humanity found in the original version.
If we can create new Beethoven symphonies, or a reincarnation of George Best in invented matches (which dates me), we no longer have to mourn its loss. They can keep composing and kicking a ball into eternity.
Will we finally get rid of old age, or certainly the appearance of it? If poor President Biden uses an AI version of himself for interviews, it can be programmed to be without barks. But then the real president wouldn’t learn one of life’s lessons, to let things go in their old age.
For such a potentially seismic change to our way of life, there is not enough comprehensible information out there for the ignorant like me. In my case, it will again fall to my grandchildren to educate me. Of course, this can be a force for good. I hope there are smart people in the world who come together and plan to use it wisely, not just for the scientific and financial potential it offers. I hope they don’t forget creativity, originality, eccentricity, breaking the mold, defying the rules. They must guard our souls. Those qualities, in fact, that make us human.
