You Can Call Me AI...

Note: for the Challenge, I'm using the following piece by Jasmine Aguilar:

Reason why it was chosen: we are living with Artificial Intelligence, and there are many concerns that it could take over and even destroy us (many of these concerns come from the very creators of such technology). I thought that I should approach this with a sense of humour, referencing one of my favourite nonsensical Paul Simon songs (see the link below...and pay attention to the lyrics).

*

A man walks down the street. It is a street in a strange world. Maybe a fake world.

Maybe in a world created on a computer.

He finds a companion.

Someone who really understands his life.

But it is someone who isn’t there.

It’s just a sound, sound…

Strange texture of technology gestures,

So hard when so much is so soft now.

I need a new upgrade.

I need a new interface.

Don’t want to end up non-fungible in a fungible graveyard…

Mr. Gates, Mr. Zuckerberg…

Icons in fake moonlight,

Far away, my unlit phone.

Mr. Geoffrey Hinton, Hinton...

Get these programs away from me for good.

You know I don’t find this stuff

Downloadable anymore…

*

A man walks down another street.

He says, “Whatever happened to my attention span?

Why do I love the icon more than my life?

Where is the free time I once had?

Who’ll be my family

Once the computer is

Gone, gone?

He ducked into some wild online forum

With some roly-poly little fat-faced programmer.

Plenty of hints and allegations…

*

A man walks down the last street,

Seeing so many angles in the architecture,

Glitching into infinity.

He holds no cryptocurrency.

He is a foreign presence.

Just cattle in a market

That can’t be placed in his world.

He begins spinning out his tale,

Crying, “Gif, man!” and “Chat GPT, too!”

And you can call him petty,

And I can call my best friend…AI!

*
Link to original Challenge:

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You can find more poems, stories, and articles by Kendall Defoe on my Vocal profile. I complain, argue, provoke and create...just like everybody else.

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