Shiny, silver robots and distant futures became hallmarks of the science fiction genre. During the 20th century, science fiction works imagined a world in which robots and artificial intelligence were part of human life. In the 1980s, the show “Small Wonder” featured a robot designed to look like a human girl, who is a family maid. The monumental 1968 movie “2001: A Space Odyssey” featured an AI character, Hal 9000, as the main antagonist. AI and robots were a thing of the future, something to imagine as good or bad, something that could help with monotonous daily tasks or destroy human civilization as it's known. This was all an imaginary, distant future, but the future is now.
Since its release at the end of 2022, ChatGPT and other AI platforms have exploded in usage. These platforms like Google Gemini, Snapchat MyAI, and Microsoft Copilot are used as tools to help people do an array of different tasks. AI can create to-do lists, help with homework, or even become a friend to talk to. There has been a cultural shift in which AI has become a regularly used resource, akin to searching on Google.
Despite being released sixteen years ago, MARINA’s song “I’m Not a Robot” is just as important now as it was then, if not more so. This song, released on her 2010 album The Family Jewels, is an anthem for authenticity and human feeling. In an interview with Wales Online, she explained, “That song was me singing to myself. It’s me saying, stop being so ridiculous, you can’t let having a fear of failing hold you back and you’re just one person.” No one is perfect, yet many people refuse to give their full effort into what they do. There is a fear of being judged if one’s best effort is not good enough, so people stop before that point as self-defense.
With the rise of AI, this song and message are even more relevant. AI offers a path in which people do not need to think; any project desired, can be provided to them. If something is wrong, it is the platform’s fault, not the user’s; people are protected from making mistakes. Despite the ease associated with artificial intelligence, it is important to not become reliant on it. The answers provided by AI act as a homogenizing machine, preventing human creativity from flowing. The fear of being wrong or weird has brewed within many an innate trust for AI, that its responses must be right, and if not completely correct, close enough.
“I’m Not a Robot” has become an anthem for myself as AI has burgeoned, its spread unrestricted. Artificial Intelligence is convenient, but there is more to life than convenience. Having a mind, a heart, lived experiences and memories, makes humans one of a kind. Use these aspects of your life to create! To resist the machine makes you a sci-fi hero in the futuristic age we are living in.
