The AI-Human Competition Is Real, And It's Now

It’s been an old headache for many workers - will they get replaced by robots? And many have - self-serving airport kiosks to automated cashier machines, to self-driving taxis - you can envisage many such human labour being replaced by machines that do not require salaries, or sick leaves, or medical.  Do they deliver the same service though?

I have had multiple experiences with automated messaging systems by food delivery companies like Zomato and Swiggy, to resolve a myriad of issues (wrong item delivered, stale item delivered, items not delivered - you get the gist). And my experience of dealing with such automated customer support has been entirely.. CRAP! Each time I struggle to get to a human agent who won’t respond with a “Oops it seems we made a mistake, we will try to do better.”

But this is more and more likely to happen.

Zomato Ditches The Human Touch

Zomato recently fired some 600 employees in customer support, within a month from launching its AI-powered customer support platform Nugget.

The employees, who were hired a year ago under the Zomato Associate Accelerator Program, were fired with a month’s severance pay and no notice period.

Read: Food delivery platform Zomato lays off nearly 600 customer support staff | Company News - Business Standard

A former employee told Business Standard, “The firing was unexpected. The treatment that we (other employees who also have been fired) underwent was unfair.” With AI, Zomato also need not worry about a potentially disgruntled employee being miffed due to something as routine as a lay-off. It’s not personal, it’s progress baby!

I’m really not looking forward to speaking to an algorithm spitting at me with a, “Oops mate we made an error, deal with it.”

The Crapification of Art

I refuse to use the word “Ghiblification” to describe the phenomenon of OpenAI and other image generators ripping off Studio Ghibli’s poignant and soul-stirring aesthetics.

A few days ago, my colleague Adrija wrote a newsletter on this trend, after she received a totally ‘kawaii’ photo of the demolition of the Babri Masjid with a knock-off Ghibli filter.

She explains how these Ghibli-looking images of people are only but a shadow of the characters in Miyazaki’s films, and a total violation of the artist’s ethos.

Read: Internet Gone Ghibli (Whether Miyazaki Likes It or Not) - Adrija Bose

OpenAI is definitely doubling down on its stance on copyrights - given the number of lawsuits it is facing over allegations of copyright infringement regarding AI training data.

Could Studio Ghibli take OpenAI to court over this? A recent piece by Business Insider highlights the difficulties it may face - an ‘artistic style’ cannot be copyrighted.

Read: Studio Ghibli Has Few Legal Moves Against OpenAI ChatGPT Image Feature - Business Insider

Also, while OpenAI’s new image generation can create these inferior copies, it can never compete with an actual Ghibli film. I guess Ghibli fans (me included) are simply pissed because this entire trend is seen as nothing but disrespectful.

I personally see this as yet another aspect of human-AI competition, where artificial creativity collides with natural human creativity. Funny thing is, one of the most prevalent motifs in Miyazaki’s films is the depiction of technology vs nature, and this entire row would make a hell of a Miyazaki film.

For beginners - you can start by watching Princess Mononoke.

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