Anyone who follows my blogging is likely aware of my position on artificial intelligence. Today, it will be given another foundation or justification, whichever you prefer.
News of fake music album Orca that had been generated by AI and distributed under the name of Emily Portman went viral, over the past few days. In short, the singer was alerted by a fan that her new album is well-liked, although she has not received any albums lately. Her short investigation revealed that someone used her stolen voice and music samples, to generate a likeness of her voice, music, and lyrics and to sell the reslut online.
Everything about these news is wonderful: the ease with which intellectual property can be stolen; the ease with which it can be converted to a lifelike but counterfeit product; and the ease with which fake personal information can be passed for genuine one, so as to sell the result. All of that is under control of IT professionals most of whom graduate from universtities and possess experience in the industry. At least that is how they present themselves. In other words, they should be considered the best of the best.
So, tell me why these best of the best, having implemented the ideas of fiction writers of the past century, descended to theft, first of all? Why are the higest-paid professionals on our planet, save for lawyers and doctors, were the first to steal intellectual property or to facilitate that? Where have things gone wrong? What have we missed?
A while ago, I have blogged about the harm caused by free software. Are these two manifestations connected? Could it be that IT professionals have so become accustomed to programming languages, development environments, libraries, operating systems and many more being free that they lost the concept of cost and property and stopped treating intellectual property as something that is valuable and has to be protected? We should pause to think of what comes next. Could the human life itself become worthless, along their way to personal profiteering and pursuit of happiness?