Post by Bruno Grippay

Morel is an endearing fictitious character. He led a personal crusade to save the elephants in the center of Africa, fulfilling his noble mission to protect the environment. Everyone who interacted with him was doubtful of his intentions. They were looking for signs of ivory smuggling, rebellion, nationalism, sovereignty, rights to self-determination, communism or sheer misanthropy. But none of them were correct. He was just an innocent, nice, generous individual, that many would translate as a pathetic idealist, happy idiot or stubborn dreamer. The author Romain Gary recounted his adventure in a splendid novel, “The Roots of Heaven”, published in 1956. Seventy years later, the quest of Morel remains a guide, a lighthouse to help us avoid the shipwrecks that stand fiercely, these fantasies that AI waves in front of our eyes, moving us away from nature and making us losing ground with the physical world. Since the release of my previous article, I have had the chance to be in contact with readers and scientists who shared some relevant information that validated and complemented what I have said last time. They confirmed that AI could be a threat if we accept to be dominated by this technology and grant it all of our available time. The attractiveness and mesmerization for its virtual productions are so strong that they could easily invade our private lives, plunge us in an artificial reality and expand further the distance between us and the biosphere. However, they also emphasized that machine learning could be an opportunity for positive progress, for human enrichment, if we take control of the actions that we delegate to it, and if we restore our relationships with living beings. This is particularly important for Large Language Models, where our reconnection with nature would enable us to recover our creative power. It is certainly our best defense against this simulated world that spreads its hallucinations everywhere with our full and imprudent consent. I believe that Morel is a perfect anachronic influencer for our young generation, an idealistic guy who could help us reconsider our priorities and the way we want to live on our planet. In the following chapters, I will present several research documents on AI, as well as a worldwide meta-analysis of insect populations that made the headlines of media a couple of years ago by announcing an increase of insect population globally in contradiction with what we could see and feel in our daily life. I intentionally associated this research on insects with the protection of elephants, in remembrance of Morel’s life, since both these minuscule and massive animals played an essential role in his destiny, as you will see in this article. #artificialintelligence #futureofmobility #machinelearning #environment