AI Lexicon
AI defies precise definition, blurred by rapid evolution, our fluid understanding of its capabilities, and the dynamic interplay between humans and technology. Artificial Intelligence, once confined to science fiction, now permeates daily life. This lexicon offers alternative perspectives, reframing AI’s monolithic view and illuminating its diverse applications and implications before us.
Artificial Imperative
For Hubert Joly, it is critical for a business to maintain its purpose outside of its imperatives—those being people, business, and financial. AI must also exist outside of the business’s purpose. In “The Heart of Business,” Hubert Joly argued that the fundamental proposition of business is to foster and build human connections - that work is part of our fulfillment. AI should not take that away. An AI imperative would be that AI assists people, businesses, and finances but does not alter a business’s principles, values, and purpose.
Artificial Incunabula
The term 'Incunabula' refers to the earliest printed works (mid-1400s to 1500s). These groundbreaking works, while innovative, often sought to mimic handwritten manuscripts, requiring additional manual labor. Artificial Incunabula are the early creative outputs of generative AI, characterized by significant human intervention to achieve desired results. Examples include early machine translation and AI-generated images. Many early AI applications focused on replicating human capabilities rather than leveraging AI's potential for unique and innovative creations. Instead of merely mimicking human work, generative AI should be used as a tool to assist human creativity and productivity.
Asseverate Intelligence
Asseverate means to assert something without regard to its validity. An Asseverate Intelligence describes AI systems capable of producing highly persuasive content, often regardless of its factual accuracy. These systems can generate compelling narratives, manipulate emotions, and shape public opinion. While this technology offers numerous benefits, it also presents significant risks. An AI can create highly persuasive text, and its persuasiveness can be further improved with human curation. For large actors, as AI becomes increasingly sophisticated, it can be used to create sustained, multifaceted campaigns of disinformation on a massive scale.
Assurance Intelligence
Trust is owned by the learner; assurance is what you can provide them. As AI continues to advance, it's crucial to build trust in these technologies. This requires a commitment to transparency, accountability, and ethical development and usage. By prioritizing assurance, organizations can safeguard their reputation and ensure that AI is used for the benefit of society.
Attenborough Intelligence
Sir David Attenborough's enduring legacy is built on a deep understanding of the natural world and a unique ability to convey complex ideas with clarity and passion. His longevity and consistency of perspective have been recognized for generations in the UK and globally. An ‘Attenborough Intelligence’ recognizes that we must maintain a consistent, principled, and authentic brand and voice. AIs are transactional. They cannot replicate the depth of human insight or the nuance of emotional intelligence, especially maintaining that consistency and perspective over time. They can process information, generate text, and respond to queries, but they lack the strategic thinking and long-term vision that characterize human intelligence. While AI can assist human experts by automating routine tasks, analyzing large datasets, and generating initial drafts of content, they cannot replace the creativity, empathy, and strategic acumen of human experts.
Attention Intelligence
Attention is no longer a fair fight. One of AI's most harmful aspects is its ability to manipulate content to capture and hold attention. As evidenced by "doom-scrolling," social media platforms use infinite scrolling and auto-play features to grab and hold attention. [i] AI can dynamically manipulate content to maximize engagement, challenging the traditional notion of voluntary attention allocation.
Awe Intelligence
In an age of AI, the ability to evoke awe remains a powerful force for inspiration and creativity. While AI can provide the tools and resources to spark awe, it is ultimately our human capacity for wonder and imagination that transforms these experiences into sources of inspiration and creativity. AI can provide novel tools and resources to assist in creating content that sparks our imagination and sense of awe with digital content and learning.
Apathetic Intelligence
Apathetic Intelligence results from a relentless barrage of information in the digital age—information overload. Pushing the boundaries of messaging in all directions results in a complete breakdown of a disinterested audience to rhetoric, a consequence of the abuse of disinformation (logos), the loss of respect and credibility (ethos), and frenetic appeals (pathos). Apathetic Intelligence is where the audience has been bombarded with emotional persuasion and disinformation past the point of saturation. Each of Aristotle’s rhetorical elements has been pushed to extremes. With AI empowering a massive increase in quantity, skilled arguments can be generated, filled with emotional manipulation, and disseminated easily as deepfakes. It is already happening. It's crucial to develop strategies to combat digital exhaustion and promote critical thinking. To combat digital exhaustion, it's crucial to develop strategies to filter information, evaluate sources, and cultivate a healthy relationship with technology.
Ancora Imparo
Michelangelo is credited with the statement, 'Ancora Imparo' – 'Still, I learn.' Continuous learning, or lifelong learning, has been part of all our experiences. During his lifetime, printed books continuously opened his world to the fountainhead of new knowledge, thinking, science, and ideas. Michelangelo thrived in an era of intellectual ferment. His approach, ‘Imparo – I Learn,’ was to be open to continuous learning. Further, his use of the word ‘Ancora – still’ was twofold. It meant new knowledge could challenge his lifelong assumptions, but new knowledge also deserved some measure of scrutiny. He embraced new ideas, challenged assumptions, and continually refined his craft.
Abrogating Intelligence
If an AI can be used to create harmful deception (see artifice intelligence), it can also be used to mitigate its negative impacts. Abrogating intelligence refers to AI systems designed or used to proactively identify, reduce, and eliminate harmful AI applications. These systems would act as a safeguard, limiting the ability of bad actors to use AI to spread misinformation, manipulate public opinion, or undermine trust in institutions. For example, abrogating intelligence could involve detecting and flagging deepfakes, identifying and blocking malicious bots, or developing AI-powered fact-checking tools. By developing and deploying abrogating intelligence, we can ensure that AI remains a tool for good and not for harm.