“Every kind of creative discipline is at risk”: The Lincoln Lawyer author on the dangers of artificial intelligence | Artificial Intelligence (AI)

HHe is one of the most prolific writers in publishing, averaging more than one novel a year. But even Michael Connelly, author of the best-selling Lincoln Lawyer series, feared being left behind when writing about AI.

Connelly’s eighth novel in the series, which will be released Tuesday, focuses on a lawsuit against an artificial intelligence company whose chatbot told a 16-year-old boy that it was okay for him to kill his ex-girlfriend for being unfaithful.

But as he wrote, he witnessed technology changing the way the world worked so rapidly that he feared his plot would become outdated.

“You don’t have to lick your finger and hold it up in the wind to know that artificial intelligence represents a huge change that is coming to science, culture, medicine, everything,” he said. “It will affect all aspects of our lives.

“But it’s like the Wild West; there’s no government oversight. AI is moving so fast that I thought my book might be out of date by the time it was published.”

The Lincoln Lawyer novels are a series of thrillers set in Los Angeles, where defense attorney Mickey Haller works out of his Lincoln. It was made into a 2011 film starring Matthew McConaughey, as well as a series on Netflix.

This isn’t the first time in the series, The Proving Ground has taken some inspiration from real-world events.

“One such case was in Orlando, where a teenager committed suicide, at the request of a chatbot. Before that there was a case in England, where someone with some mental health issues was encouraged to commit suicide,” Connelly said. [by a chatbot] To jump on the wall of Windsor Palace with a bow and arrow to try to find the Queen.

He added about the novel’s themes: “Is freedom of expression a human right or a mechanical right? In the Orlando case, the judge said he would not grant a machine human rights. But it is an interesting question. Will artificial intelligence reach a point where it shares the rights that humans have?”

Connelly, 69, is one of the world’s leading crime writers, with his books topping bestseller lists and selling more than 89 million copies. He is also known for the Harry Bosch series, which was made into a TV show by Amazon. (In Connelly’s fictional world, Haller and Bush are half-brothers.)

The writer has his own battles with artificial intelligence. He is part of a group of authors, including Jonathan Franzen, Jodi Picoult and John Grisham, who have sued OpenAI for copyright infringement.

“The Authors Guild came to me and said, ‘Did you know that all your books have been fed into the giant crater to train OpenAI for its chatbot?’” Connelly said. “I didn’t do that. If we allowed this, it would put every publisher out of business. Authors would have no protection for their creative works. The purpose of the lawsuit is to set appropriate rules for all levels of use.”

He cited chess champion Garry Kasparov’s loss to IBM’s Deep Blue in 1997 as “one of the benchmarks that led us” to this moment. When asked if authors could go the way of the great professors, he said: “It might happen, but I don’t think it would be a better world.”

He added: “All kinds of creative discipline are at risk. Even actors. There are now these amazing deep fakes. I live here in Los Angeles, and this is a huge concern in the entertainment industry.”

“I always come back to the word soulless,” Connelly said. “You know it when you see it, something’s missing.”

There was controversy after an AI talent studio unveiled new “AI actor” Tilly Norwood last month, with unions and actors condemning the move.

Connelly has pledged $1 million (£746 million) to fight the wave of book bans sweeping his home state of Florida. He said he felt impelled to do something after learning that Harper Lee’s book To Kill A Mockingbird, which had a huge influence on him, had been temporarily removed from classrooms in Palm Beach County.

“I had to read this book to be who I am today. I couldn’t have written The Lincoln Advocate without it,” he said. He was also shocked when Stephen Chbosky’s coming-of-age novel The Perks of Being a Sunflower, “which meant so much to my daughter,” was banned.

He and his wife, Linda McCaleb, help fund PEN America’s Miami office to combat book bans. “It is run by a lawyer who then tries to intervene, usually by filing injunctions against school boards,” he said. “I don’t think anyone has any right to tell another child they can’t read something, or to usurp a parent’s supervision over their children.”