August 23, 2026
Can we and should we FIGHT AI IN ANY FORM? When I was a kid way back in the mid 1900s (yeah, that’s actually true!), we often went to the Drive-In movie theaters on weekends to watch movies while sitting in our car. The huge screen was amazing. Making the movies larger than life. Usually, if not always, there were two movies shown each night after sunset in the dark.
In between shows, there was an “Intermission” period of 10 minutes or so that they counted down on the big screen. That gave the audience time to visit the snack bar to purchase delicious buttery popcorn and candy to take back to our cars for messy consumption during the second featured film. As we passed the bucket of popcorn around, I remember popcorn everywhere, down in the seats and on the floor of my parents’ clean car!
Also, during intermission, they played cartoons on the big screen. The Wile E. Coyote and Road Runner cartoons were the best! Laughter could be heard emanating from hundreds of cars!
Another use of the big screen during intermission was to send out a serious PSA message that the drive-in theater owners strongly believed in. Because the crazy idea threatened their livelihoods. The message was displayed in the largest of bold letters and looked something like this:
FIGHT PAY TV IN ANY FORM!
Now that just seemed to be a crazy/wild concept to me. Who would ever pay to watch TV? It’s always been and always will be free to watch as long as there were rabbit ears! Right? So we thought.
Fast forward to a new century and a new wild and crazy concept: AI.
It’s here, and it’s real. Today, as I contemplate the wide use of AI, it has become a serious threat to so many people’s livelihoods. Jobs are being lost by thousands of workers. Just as “pay TV” threatened the movie Drive-In theater owners and the jobs of all who worked there. But on a much larger scale. I wish I could put this PSA up on the big screen: SAVE OUR AND OUR CHILDREN’S JOBS!
“FIGHT AI IN ANY FORM!” is probably a stretch, and I’ll concede that some parts of AI may have a valid beneficial use when applied to research in technology, science, and medicine. But then comes my personal pet peeve and opinion as an author. When AI is used to steal authors’, artists’, or photographers’ work, that is where I believe a line in the sand should be drawn and where AI should be banned and prohibited.
So, here’s my crazy/wild, strong, heartfelt opinion and message that I would like to display on your personal big screen today:
FIGHT AI TO STOP THE PLAGIARISM, COPYRIGHT INFRINGEMENT, AND THE GENERAL THEFT OF HUMAN CREATIVITY IN ANY FORM!
Perhaps, like pay TV / cable TV, maybe it’s too late to stop AI? Is it already irreversible? What are your thoughts?
Robert Kuhn 