Is AI Any More Human Than Cast Away’s Wilson?

 

I met a friend for breakfast a few months ago, and we were talking about AI. He has embraced it for his work in finance, but I have not yet fully explored or exploited it for my business as a book marketer. One thing that struck me in our conversation, besides being convinced I should delve deeply into seeing how AI can possibly transform my work or at least make my job easier, was how he had spoken of it, as if the piece of technology was a human being.

He labeled his research as a “conversation,” said “he” instead of “it” when referring to the computer program, and my friend would at times say “we discussed.” Then came the clincher: he says AI can think.

Nonsense!

My buddy has lost his mind.

I think back to the 2000 Tom Hanks classic, Cast Away, where a man crashes his plane into a small, uninhabited island, and ends up talking to a soccer ball on a stick. He calls it by the manufacturer’s name, Wilson. AI is no more human than Wilson was.

We must never mistake pre-programmed statements, questions, data, and computations as anything but that. AI cannot feel, think, or know of anything it has not been fed. It is at best an echo chamber for what exists and lacks nuanced understanding of the human condition.

People too quickly embrace AI as if it were a therapist, romantic interest, friend, or wingman. It is none of that. It is a higher-level Magic 8 Ball. We are handing over our health data and medical records, our wealth investments, our work projects, and other information to AI and asking it to show us what we can’t see. It will make us lazy, causing us to stop trying to think through a problem. We are too eager to let it direct our lives and to act like a life coach GPS.

AI can help you find and research potential customers, analyze your competitors, and save you time on some menial tasks. And yes, AI can do more, and its abilities are growing. But it is only, at best, whatever data that we program it with. Let’s not lose our heads so fast.

Sure it does complex and simple tasks faster than we can. It could prompt us to spark deeper ideas and initiate areas for us to explore. It can help us say something better, save is time and or money, and open us up to other possibilities.

It may help us go beyond our biases and limitations — or it may just mirror them back to us — or worse, project its biases onto us. AI lacks error-free data and it does not have complete access to all information. We should proceed with caution here.

AI holds unknown promise of possibly really good things, but it also may make us dumber, less self-reliant, and could pose a danger of great proportion if not policed and held in check. But whatever it is or becomes, it is not a he or a she or a them. It is not human and should never be viewed as such.

"The artist's job is not to succumb to despair but to find an antidote for the emptiness of existence."  -- Woody Allen, Midnight in Paris  

"Help people reframe their thinking so that they shift their mindset from good intentions to intentional actions." --Best-Selling Author John C. Maxwell  

"If you know the why, you can live anyhow." --Friedrich Nietzsche

Do You Need Book Marketing Help?

Brian Feinblum can be reached at brianfeinblum@gmail.com  He is available to help authors like you to promote your story, sell your book, and grow your brand. He has over 30 years of experience in successfully helping thousands of authors in all genres. Let him be your advocate, teacher, and motivator! 

 

About Brian Feinblum

This award-winning blog has generated over 6,750,000 page views. With 5,600+ posts over the past 15 years, it was named one of the best book marketing blogs by BookBaby http://blog.bookbaby.com/2013/09/the-best-book-marketing-blogs  and recognized by Feedspot in 2026, 2021 and 2018 as one of the top book marketing blogs. It was also named by www.WinningWriters.com as a "best resource.”  Copyright 2026.

 

For the past three decades, Brian Feinblum has helped thousands of authors. He formed his own book publicity firm in 2020. Prior to that, for 21 years as the head of marketing for the nation’s largest book publicity firm, and as the director of publicity at two independent presses, Brian has worked with many first-time, self-published, authors of all genres, right along with best-selling authors and celebrities such as: Dr. Ruth, Mark Victor Hansen, Joseph Finder, Katherine Spurway, Neil Rackham, Harvey Mackay, Ken Blanchard, Stephen Covey, Warren Adler, Cindy Adams, Todd Duncan, Susan RoAne, John C. Maxwell, Jeff Foxworthy, Seth Godin, and Henry Winkler.

 

His writings are often featured in The Writer and IBPA’s The Independent (https://pubspot.ibpa-online.org/article/whats-needed-to-promote-a-book-successfully) and (https://pubspot.ibpa-online.org/article/10-things-my-dog-taught-me-about-marketing-books). He was recently interviewed by the IBPA: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F0BhO9m8jbs

 

He hosted a panel on book publicity for Book Expo America several years ago, and has spoken at ASJA, three times at BookCAMP, Independent Book Publishers Association, Sarah Lawrence College, Nonfiction Writers Association, Cape Cod Writers Association, Willamette (Portland) Writers Association, APEX, five times at Morgan James Publishing Red Carpet, and Connecticut Authors and Publishers Association. He served as a judge for the 2024 IBPA Book Awards.

 

His letters-to-the-editor have been published in The Wall Street Journal, USA Today, New York Post, NY Daily News, Newsday, The Journal News (Westchester) and The Washington Post. His first published book was The Florida Homeowner, Condo, & Co-Op Association Handbook.  It was featured in The Sun Sentinel and Miami Herald.

 

Born and raised in Brooklyn, he now resides in Westchester with his wife, two kids, and Ferris, a black lab rescue dog, and El Chapo, a pug rescue dog.

 

You can connect with him at: https://www.linkedin.com/in/brianfeinblum/ or https://www.facebook.com/brian.feinblum