When Merriam-Webster introduced that its phrase of the yr for 2023 was “authentic,” it did so with over a month to go within the calendar yr.
Even then, the dictionary writer was late to the sport.
In a lexicographic type of Christmas creep, Collins English Dictionary introduced its 2023 phrase of the yr, “AI,” on October 31. Cambridge University Press adopted swimsuit on November 15 with “hallucinate,” a phrase used to confer with incorrect or deceptive info offered by generative AI packages.
At any fee, phrases associated to artificial intelligence seem to rule the roost, with “authentic” additionally falling beneath that umbrella.
AI and the Authenticity Crisis
For the previous 20 years, Merriam-Webster, the oldest dictionary writer within the US, has chosen a phrase of the yr—a time period that encapsulates, in a single kind or one other, the zeitgeist of that previous yr. In 2020, the phrase was “pandemic.” The subsequent yr’s winner? “Vaccine.”
“Authentic” is, at first look, rather less apparent.
According to the writer’s editor-at-large, Peter Sokolowski, 2023 represented “a kind of crisis of authenticity.” He added that the selection was additionally knowledgeable by the variety of on-line customers who regarded up the phrase’s which means all year long.
The phrase “authentic,” within the sense of one thing that’s correct or authoritative, has its roots in French and Latin. The Oxford English Dictionary has recognized its utilization in English as early because the late 14th century.
And but the idea—notably because it applies to human creations and human conduct—is slippery.
Is {a photograph} produced from movie extra genuine than one produced from a digital digital camera? Does an genuine scotch need to be made at a small-batch distillery in Scotland? When socializing, are you being genuine—or simply plain impolite—while you skirt niceties and small speak? Does being your genuine self imply pursuing one thing that feels pure, even on the expense of cultural or authorized constraints?
The extra you consider it, the extra it looks as if an ever-elusive ultimate—one additional sophisticated by advances in synthetic intelligence.
How Much Human Touch?
Intelligence of the substitute selection—as in nonhuman, inauthentic, computer-generated intelligence—was the expertise story of the previous yr.
At the tip of 2022, OpenAI publicly launched ChatGPT, a chatbot derived from so-called massive language fashions. It was broadly seen as a breakthrough in synthetic intelligence, however its fast adoption led to questions in regards to the accuracy of its solutions.
The chatbot additionally turned widespread amongst college students, which compelled academics to grapple with how to make sure their assignments weren’t being accomplished by ChatGPT.
Issues of authenticity have arisen in different areas as nicely. In November 2023, a monitor described because the “last Beatles song” was launched. “Now and Then” is a compilation of music initially written and carried out by John Lennon within the Nineteen Seventies, with extra music recorded by the opposite band members within the Nineties. A machine studying algorithm was lately employed to separate Lennon’s vocals from his piano accompaniment, and this allowed a ultimate model to be launched.
But is it an genuine Beatles tune? Not everyone seems to be satisfied.
Advances in expertise have additionally allowed the manipulation of audio and video recordings. Referred to as “deepfakes,” such transformations could make it seem that a celeb or a politician stated one thing that they didn’t—a troubling prospect because the US heads into what is bound to be a contentious 2024 election season.
Writing for The Conversation in May 2023, training scholar Victor R. Lee explored the AI-fueled authenticity disaster.
Our judgments of authenticity are knee-jerk, he defined, honed over years of expertise. Sure, sometimes we’re fooled, however our antennae are typically dependable. Generative AI short-circuits this cognitive framework.
“That’s because back when it took a lot of time to produce original new content, there was a general assumption … that it only could have been made by skilled individuals putting in a lot of effort and acting with the best of intentions,” he wrote.
“These are not safe assumptions anymore,” he added. “If it looks like a duck, walks like a duck, and quacks like a duck, everyone will need to consider that it may not have actually hatched from an egg.”
Though there appears to be a normal understanding that human minds and human fingers should play some function in creating one thing genuine or being genuine, authenticity has all the time been a tough idea to outline.
So it’s considerably becoming that as our collective deal with on actuality has change into ever extra tenuous, an elusive phrase for an summary ultimate is Merriam-Webster’s phrase of the yr.
This article is republished from The Conversation beneath a Creative Commons license. Read the authentic article.
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