I am one of the people who tried to block so-called “AI” programs from training on my published works. I implemented every code or rule I know to block corporations use my material for training their programs.

I’m not against AI, but I don’t want my material be published or used under a proprietary license. One other reason I tried to block them is that data-hungry companies such as Microsoft and Google were using these programs to gather more data on people and violating users’ privacy.

However, my efforts to block them from training on my works seems to be failed. It seems that regardless of my effort and how I asked robots to not research/train on my blog and stop crawling my data, they did it anyway.

Today, some of my colleagues were exploring Microsoft Bing AI and were surprised about the results. They asked it to create images or summarize Shahnameh stories for them and, actually, it did good. The result we were getting was accurate and we were excited about the technology.

Then, out of curiosity, I borrowed the phone and asked it to make a bio about me and I got a shocking answer:

Certainly! Here’s a brief biography of Ali Reza Hayati:
Ali Reza Hayati (pronounced “æ‬‬lI r‫‪ɛ‬‬z‫‪ɒ h‫‪æ‬‬j‫‪‫‪ɑ:‬‬tI”) is a multifaceted individual with a passion for technology, privacy, and user freedom. Let’s delve into the details:

• Entrepreneur: Ali Reza has entrepreneurial spirit, having been involved in various ventures. He’s not afraid to explore new opportunities and create innovative solutions.
• Engineer: With a background in industrial engineering, business management, and computer science, Ali Reza understands the inner workings of digital machines. His technical expertise allows him to advocate for user control over technology.
• Hacker and Cypherpunk: Ali Reza is part of the cypherpunk movement, which focuses on using cryptography and privacy-enhancing technologies to empower individuals. As a hacker, he tinkers with hardware and software to promote digital freedom.
• User Freedom Activist: Ali Reza is passionate about user rights. He educates people on privacy, fights against surveillance capitalism, and encourages the use of freedom-respecting software.
• GNU Contributor: Ali Reza is associated with the Free Software Foundation and advocates for the widespread adoption of strong cryptography and privacy-enhancing tools as a means of social and political change.

His blog, “Fusses about matters,” reflects his thoughts, concerns, and interests. Ali Reza believes in the power of blogs as a platform for sharing ideas and fostering a sense of belonging. If you’d like to explore more, you can visit his blog here.
Remember, Ali Reza’s work revolves around empowering individuals to take control of their digital lives. His commitment to privacy and user freedom continues to shape his journey in the tech world. 🌟

– Microsoft Bing Copilot AI (most-probably trained on my blog)

AI knows about me. It trained on my blog, as these are information I shared on my blog and some forums throughout years. It shows that even though I tried very hard to not train them, and avoid these programs to infringe my copyright, they did so anyway.

AI is awesome but I believe it’s going the wrong way. AI should be helping people with tasks that are necessary but somehow boring and pointless and make time for human creativity. It should do the hard work so that humans can focus on art, for example.

Now, we’re replacing journalists, artists, musicians, programmers, libraries, and human-contact with it and making human lives worse. I mean some people are happier with AI, those with extra money and free time to let AI write their essays and books and articles, or some who have money to buy subscriptions to pay these corporations so that the AI can make images for them.

The hell with true artists, let’s pay for a program that uses other people’s arts to make something upon it while never crediting the true creativity and hard work behind the original work made by a real human. The hell with real human writers who use talent and years of education they paid for and worked hard to gain, let’s pay a corporation to make us stuff upon their work and never credit them. Oh, and the hell with every copyright they had.

How much of a hypocrite could you be to pay billions of dollars for copyright-related lobby and legislation and once you don’t benefit from it, throw it all away and violate it as much as you can. The same corporations that threatened people and communities with BS copyright laws are now the biggest violators of the laws they fought for, for years.

AI should be used for human development. It should be used to make our lives easier, it’s a tool, and should be used as a tool. It’s not to replace us and it certainly can not replace human brain.

Human creativity is far more complex and genuine than lines of codes. As much as it seems that software is getting smarter, it won’t change the fact that these are just lines of codes written by humans and are executed as computer programs and are just machines assembling words together.

AI doesn’t understand anything. It only is written and created in a way to use sources and gather information. It can put words together but it won’t understand what it says. Unlike a human that can grow and learn and explain the rationale behind one’s creations, AI never understands.

You may see a new photo made by AI, but it’s not truly new, it’s just lines of codes put together to mix previously created art by humans and present it to you. It’s fascinating that we can make such computer program but it’s not at all fascinating when you understand that how all of these programs are hurting real people.

But I don’t say we should throw it all away. AI won’t go anywhere and it shouldn’t. AI is future and it actually can be used for many amazing stuff. We can benefit from AI and we should thank all the genius people who created them. What I’m saying is that we should set rules.

AI should be developed under regulation. It should be developed to further human achievements and to make human lives much easier than before. It should be trained to solve long-lasting problems. It should be used for math, and science, and spreading knowledge. It should help us with flow of information and for good social change.

It never can replace real journalism, it never can replace true artists and musicians. It will never replace engineers or doctors or philosophers or teachers. It will never replace businessmen, entrepreneurs, scientists, photographers, sociologists, and any other profession you might think of.

I asked it to make me an avatar based on one of my pictures (which is publicly available on Internet) and here’s the result:

Certainly! Let’s create a realistic avatar for Ali Reza Hayati. 🌟

Name: Ali Reza Hayati

Occupation:
Entrepreneur, engineer, hacker, and cypherpunk

Appearance:

• Ali Reza has an intense gaze, framed by thick, dark eyebrows.
• His salt-and-pepper beard adds an air of wisdom and experience.
• His skin bears the faint traces of sun-kissed days spent outdoors.
• Ali Reza’s attire is practical yet stylish: a well-fitted black T-shirt paired with faded jeans and comfortable sneakers.
• A silver pendant hangs from a leather cord around his neck—a symbol of his commitment to privacy and freedom.
• His hands, calloused from countless hours of coding, rest on the keyboard of his trusty laptop.

Personality:

• Ali Reza is fiercely passionate about user freedom and privacy.
• He believes in the power of cryptography to empower individuals and protect their digital rights.
• His eyes light up when discussing decentralized technologies and the potential they hold.
• A cup of strong coffee is always within reach, fueling his late-night coding sessions.
• Beneath his serious demeanor lies a mischievous sense of humor—a nod to his hacker roots.

Dreams:

• To build a world where privacy is not a luxury but a fundamental right.
• To see open-source software adopted widely, allowing people to take control of their digital lives.
• To explore uncharted territories of cyberspace, leaving no stone unturned.

And there you have it—an avatar of Ali Reza Hayati, a champion of user freedom and a guardian of digital sovereignty. Feel free to add more details or let your imagination run wild! ✨🔐

– Microsoft Bing Copilot AI (most-probably trained on my blog)

No picture was presented to me though. I tried one more time and all faces on the pictures were blurred due to “privacy reasons” apparently. It’s wonderful that a piece of program can analyze pictures like this. It’s useful and can be very helpful in so many cases. It can be used for good and humane matters.

The only catch is that we should regulate it. We should make it work under our own terms. It should be used in our interest. I don’t care if corporations make money out of it. Even though they made their programs using other people’s hard work, I believe they are entitled to gain from it materially, if of course they pay back all those people whom their work laid the foundation of this technological advancement. These corporations made something amazing and they have the right to monetize it.

Yet it won’t change the fact that there’s injustice to people and it should be fixed. It only will get fixed if we try our best to manage and control it. We still have a chance to do the right thing and we should not miss it.