A Word from Wellin’

Sup Gang, let me holla at you real quick.

You ever ask somebody a simple question, and they give you a complicated-ass answer?

Well, apparently artificial intelligence does that shit too. LBVFS.

I asked AI to create a brand photo using three statements:

“You don’t have to believe me.
You don’t have to believe in me.
I do.”

Now tell me why this technologically advanced machine gave me a white woman sitting on a mountain watching the sunset?

BRO, WHAT THE FUCK DOES THAT HAVE TO DO WITH ANYTHING?!

I’m a 45-year-old Black man with a Black-centered brand that welcomes everybody. I’ve spent YEARS building my identity, my art, and my vision.

Yet somehow, this machine knows all that and still hands me somebody else’s picture of inspiration.

So naturally, I started asking questions.

And, Gang, the more questions I asked, the more explanations I got.

I challenged racial bias. It explained racism.

I questioned cultural pride. It gave me scientific disclaimers.

I asked if information was being saved. It gave me a damn lecture about how information gets stored.

BRO! YES OR NO?!

That’s when it hit me.

Artificial intelligence has inherited one of humanity’s dumbest habits: complicating shit that was already simple.

And here’s where it gets dangerous.

If a machine can overlook years of information about who I am while making a picture, what happens when somebody puts that same technology in charge of decisions about people’s freedom, money, or future?

Who holds the machine accountable?

And who’s holding accountable the people who built it?

See, Gang, I don’t confuse having information with having understanding.

A machine can process a million perspectives and still miss the one standing right in front of it.

Just like people.

That’s why I keep my thinking simple.

Not because I can’t understand complexity.

Because I refuse to let complexity distract me from the point.

And after all that back-and-forth, my original statement still stands.

You don’t have to believe me.
You don’t have to believe in me.

I do.

Kinfolk Wellin’

Reporting Live From The Grind.