The spam calls seem to come in waves.
There are periods of relative quiet — and then comes the incessant ringing (generally at an incredibly inconvenient time). But, still, you have to check. And the phone says, “May be spam.” Usually is. So best to let the phone keep on ringing. And then, when it stops, see if an actual message has followed. Just in case the call may be legit. Which is generally not the case.
But the spam is not relegated to just the phone. There are the unsolicited emails that randomly show up. Some announce that incredibly talented folks out there in cyberworld can create the fantastic website that you’ve always been dreaming of. This, of course, is news in itself since the last thing you’ve ever been dreaming of is your own website.
There are also emails from an interested “client” who has been checking out your online store, approves of how things have been set up and would like to help you make your store even better. Always good to know that you have satisfied customers. And that they’re willing to help. Would be even better if you actually owned an online store.
Seems like the bots and the trolls are continually at their mischievous work, trying to eke their way into our daily lives. The challenge is to keep them out.
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But, as AI ramps up and becomes more and more prevalent, that challenge could become a bit more … challenging.
There are currently a slew of AI detectors, and AI spam detectors, on the market. They claim to be able to analyze content to make sure it’s original (or, more aptly, not AI generated). Whether or not they do this with total accuracy is problematic. One would think the AI detectors should be pretty good at their job since the technology used to create them is … AI.
But what happens down the road as AI becomes even more sophisticated? Will there be AI detectors that can actually detect AI in any and all forms? Or will AI have become so “smart” that it will be able to escape any detection? And then will one version of AI be able to outsmart another? And, in the process, outsmart all of us?
Of course, we haven’t quite reached that stage yet (at least we don’t think we have) and perhaps it’s not worth worrying about. At least for now.
But maybe, in the distant future, a bunch of folks will be sitting around a virtual campfire, in an artificial-tree forest somewhere on the outskirts of a monument-laden national park, reminiscing about times past. And one will turn to the others and say, “Remember the good old days, back when we had those smart phones and emails and all that spam that went with them? Boy, those were the days! Because back then we could at least delete that stuff. Sure wish we could now!”
And the other folks will just nod … and then resume petting their virtual dogs.
