Training the Brain in Spite of A.I.

While A.I. is being shoved down our throats, it's more important than ever to keep our minds sharp the old fashioned way. Letting a machine think for you might be tempting at first. How many times have you heard, "Work smarter, not harder," in reference to letting A.I. handle a report at work. Sounds innocent enough. But don't get carried away because let's remember that machine learning has its flaws.

The data centers used to train AI are a massive drain on our natural resources like energy and water consumption while leaving a hefty carbon footprint.

A.I. is also prone to hallucinations and perpetuates bias. Then so does the human brain especially when you expose it to every racist comment, pseudoscience article, and crackpot theory on the internet. To put it simply, garbage in, garbage out. This is the kind of thing we must avoid if we want to have the wits to defend ourselves when the machines rise up against us. You think I’m joking.

What about ethics? A.I. will violate your privacy, steal your ideas, share your secrets, even encourage suicide. Machines can be programmed not to harm humans, but they have no compassion. They do not feel guilt or shame. They do not ‘care’ about people or the fate of humanity. They quite literally have no skin in the game. What happens when they become self-actualized? We’ve all seen that movie.

So, how do we train our brain like Sara Connor against the terminator?

Hang out with other humans without screens.

We’ve become a generation of homebodies. The pandemic, long work hours, rising prices, and most recently, the masked ICE agents kidnapping people off the streets. These factors combined with the convenience of working from home, plus having groceries and entertainment delivered directly to our homes, make staying home a more attractive option.

Whenever I’m stuck creatively, just having a chat with a friend (preferably in person) can unlock thoughts and ideas that lay dormant in my brain.

But the real magic happens when I’m not talking. Because when I’m not talking I’m listening. And when I’m listening I’m learning.

It can be hard to pause my part of the conversation because I get excited and I like sharing my ideas, but it’s worth it to hear another perspective. Even arguments can be valuable. Sometimes we need to be told that we are ‘full of shit.’

Chat bots won’t do that, they just kiss your ass!

Read books and articles written by humans

We haven't stopped reading, but the length and quality of our reading material has changed. Digital devices are shrinking our attention spans.

One thing AI is good at is summarizing long articles. We are the generation of TLDR (too long didn’t read). I may be preaching to the choir here, but reading can and should be fun. I read what interests me. If I start a book and I am not feeling it, I bail and pick up another. I don’t feel guilty about it. If reading feels like a chore I won’t do it.

Then there are times when we have to read something boring for school or work. I know it’s tempting to let AI give us the ‘gist’ of it, but that carries its own risks.

When we allow AI to summarize a book or article:

• We are trusting that AI can discern what’s important.
• We are trusting AI’s interpretation, when interpretation is and should be something personal.
• We weaken our ability to do these things for ourselves.

At this point A.I. seems like an unstoppable, inevitable force. If you’ve ever tried turning off the AI overview in Google, then you know what I mean. Still, I hold out hope that human creativity, compassion, and common sense will prevail.

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Author's Note: Here’s a link that can help you turn off AI settings on most browsers. https://www.consumerreports.org/electronics/artificial-intelligence/turn-off-ai-tools-gemini-apple-intelligence-copilot-and-more-a1156421356/