Why Florian Illies Believes We Should Pity AI

Bestselling author Florian Illies believes artificial intelligence deserves our pity. In a recent essay for the weekly newspaper 'Die Zeit,' Illies argues that AI, despite its ability to instantly generate speeches, poems, or commentary, fundamentally lacks the human qualities that define life.

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It lacks doubt, it lacks hesitation, it lacks failure, it lacks experience. ... that its texts have passed through a body, through a soul, not just through a data line.

"It lacks doubt, it lacks hesitation, it lacks failure, it lacks experience," Illies writes. He emphasizes that AI's outputs have not passed through a body or a soul, but merely a data line. "Is it not comforting that machines will always lack this? We should begin to pity them for it."

Illies points to the interruptions that characterize human life – a child waking up, a washing machine beeping, or thoughts drifting back to a past summer – as elements absent from AI's existence. He contrasts AI's linear, artificial pathways with the "wildly growing human synapses," suggesting that AI providers market this efficiency as a benefit. The promise of AI, he notes, is the speed with which it produces quantifiable results from vast data.

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Is it not comforting that machines will always lack this? We should begin to pity them for it.

"The constant state of AI is 'No problem,'" Illies observes. "It is inhumanly always ready. And never exhausted. Whenever you ask, you get a speech, a poem, a commentary in fractions of a second. But whoever writes as fast as AI cannot be alive."

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The greatest promise of AI is therefore the speed with which it creates a quantifiable result from countless data.

Illies, known for his 2000 bestseller 'Generation Golf,' has written extensively on historical and cultural themes. His recent works include 'Love in the Time of Hate' and 'Dreams of Fire,' exploring historical figures and periods. His perspective on AI stems from a deep appreciation for the complexities and imperfections of human experience, which he sees as the true source of creativity and meaning.

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The constant state of AI is 'No problem.' It is inhumanly always ready. And never exhausted. Whenever you ask, you get a speech, a poem, a commentary in fractions of a second. But whoever writes as fast as AI cannot be alive.