Beware the Bot Whisperers
Historically, one of the key roles of the Catholic priest was to act as a mediator, linking the human with the divine. It’s hard, after all, for us regular folk to understand the likes of the Lord, moving as He does in mysterious ways. To have an interlocutor or interpreter is therefore always mighty handy. When we go adrift, they can even intercede on our behalf and grant us absolution.
True, this model of priesthood has perhaps faded a bit over time.
But lo, in 2023, behold, they come. The high priests of artificial intelligence.
The people who practise their faith in the Church of LinkedIn and tell us that only they can intercede with the holy trinity of ChatGPT, DALL.E and Midjourney.
I call them the bot whisperers.
Only they understand the rituals and prompts that will allow our new AI gods to smile benevolently upon us and bestow their bountiful gifts.
The social media managers, copywriters and HR consultants (who believe they may soon be former social media managers, copywriters and HR consultants) are carving a new niche for themselves.
They will serve a congregation of the naïve and confused — people who might have toyed with the idea of conversing with AI directly, unaware that it requires deep insight and spiritual preparation developed over several weeks.
As I commune with GPT in the comfort of my own home, I might be lulled into a false sense of security that I can actually talk to it in quite conversational English and it interprets my intent 99.9% of the time. In reality, I should rely on the killer prompts and insights of self-appointed gurus, who give away some of their magic for free in the hope that I will no doubt appoint them (or anoint them) as consultants. Or perhaps pay for their online webinars and training sessions.
I wonder what they make of the school kids who use the tech quite happily for essays? It seems extraordinary that ones so young can demonstrate such perspicacity in relation to prompting. Perhaps these youngsters are naturals and have glorious bot-whispering careers ahead of them?
The madness of all this is that the technology is already overtaking those who seek to act as the go-betweens and gurus.
If I make use of DALL.E on Bing, for example, the AI itself starts to suggest refining prompts that I may choose to adopt. This new god is so powerful that it anticipates our needs and seeks to satisfy them, sometimes before we are even aware of what our needs are.
My bet is that if someone has invented themselves a new job as a GPT prompter, they will be looking for another new job in the not-too-distant future.
By which I mean the autumn.
The above was brought to you by human hand.
