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In case it wasn't obvious already, Artificial Untelligence™ isn't really 'artificial intelligence' (AI) as it's referred to these days. It's a spoof, and runs on simple random replies as opposed to generative AI and large language learning. I suppose it might be possible to get lost in the weeds about where the line starts and to what degree artificially imitating artificial intelligence constitutes AI, but let's not, and instead assume some clear divides. It isn't AI.

My hope is that people can relax and have fun with it, maybe share it with their friends or colleagues to mess about with for five or 10 minutes for some light relief.

The idea was spawned by a creeping sense of foreboding due to the rise of artificial intelligence apparently taking over life and putting the species on the dole other than a few tech moguls who own AI companies and a few elite cadres of AI programmers.

Aggravating this sense was my unfortunate timing in trying to learn to draw and code (with evidently mixed results) while, unbeknown to me, a wave of AI change was rumbling across the horizon.

AI can draw pictures, AI can write books, AI can write code, and on it goes, a thorough pummelling of gut-punches to humanity's prospects, endeavours and self-esteem or so it's seemed at times, regardless of the debates around how humanity adapted to previous advances, all while maintaining a fondness for more DIY approaches to creativity and technical skills.

The rise of machine learning and language-crunching programmes does, however, merit some grown-up caution, and during my peak moments of AI wariness, its ability to mimic humans has brought to mind the apparent alien lifeform in Annihilation, whether film adaption or Jeff Vandermeer's novel, as the entity gradually displaces humans by copying them first.

Reports of mass layoffs, AI 'art' featuring glossy but unnerving character portraits, social media adverts threatening obsolescence, as well as intrusive offers to help on search engines, are all now regular features of the zeitgeist, and that's without even considering more disturbing developments.

The topic has become both impossible to ignore but also irksome at times, and as with a lot of technology the bad has taken the sheen off some of the good work such as new medicines and other health advances that otherwise wouldn't be possible. Such is the nature of new technology: defying generalisation, any instance reflecting a spot sample of human activity, from laudable progress to criminality and grimness.

In terms of AI as a functional tool, it's important to temper any natural reflex alarm at the apparent pace and magnitude of change with a recognition of some nuance, with debates sprouting where the lines blur between use of tools in creativity, even around human identity itself, and the extent to which automated tools already used but not called AI represent something similar, such as the fantastic brush packs available for illustration apps, or even using search engines instead of manually looking up something in a book.

Whereas it seems like there's little room for coyness in using AI for life-saving advancements such as medicine, its application in creativity has clearly become more contentious and its appeal more vaporous. There are also asbtract areas where a capacity to reason while shorn of human foibles, hopes and bias might produce answers to tricky philosophical questions, breaching what Nietzsche characterised as a delusion to assume humans can ever truly be impartial in their thought.

So, AI's arrival has been a somewhat disconcerting, unnerving shift in human life, presenting threat and opportunity, and at times a bit sore, particularly for someone trying to learn to draw and do some basic code. A spoof version seemed a good antidote to the quagmire, and the idea took hold.

I'm aware Artificial Untelligence and the ArtiV1.1SP00F chatbot probably aren't the first spoof version, with the 1980s Channel 4 character Max Headroom clearly providing some kind of character antecedent, never mind the famous droids and computers of sci-fi from C3PO in Star Wars to Marvin in Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy, Holly in Red Dwarf, and beyond. (Update - July 31/2023: I've now discovered today on the day of registering a domain, that not only was my first-pick domain unavailable, but that months and months after initially having the idea, I've now found someone's done something vaguely similar earlier this year, which sounds like a much slicker spoof 'artificial unintelligence' chatbot, which is trained for real, so sincere hats off to New Yorkers Craig Shervin and Steve Nass who used comedy films and ChatGPT to train their 2dumb2destroy chatbot. Suppose it's maybe some solace that my version stands apart as consistent in being both unintelligent both by name and also by mode of execution.)

In any case, if felt like good practice and something worth trying.

If it can bring some light relief to anyone afflicted by mild AI-angst, whether an artist looking for a confidence boost and to felt seen, or a programmer needing a lift, I hope ArtiV1.1 can take the edge off, and who knows, maybe even raise a laugh.

Enjoy.

Oliver Clay

July 28, 2023. (Updated July 31, 2023)

If you enjoyed Artificial Untelligence™, you might also like to try my first two published games, first the election campaign themed Election Run® and then FameGrafter™, which puts you in charge of a fictional talent agency with four hopefuls looking to make it in the world of celebrity.