Artificial Intelligence: the Good, Bad, & Ugly by Susan Calder

                                          For book and author information, go to Amazon

         A Killer Whisky is Book # 12 of BWL"S Canadian Historical Mystery Series

Every day I receive an email from a stranger wanting to feature one of my novels in their book club or promote the book in another way. I almost fell for the first email. It was well-written, contained specific details about my story, and analyzed it better than I could have done myself. I was sure the sender had read the book until later that day a similar email arrived from another stranger. Two new fans who loved my novel and wanted to help it get the recognition it deserved? This seemed too good to be true.   

Within days, I saw a Facebook post by an author who had received one of these effusive emails. This convinced me they were scams created by Artificial Intelligence. Not that I understood AI, but the emails were something beyond my previous experience. I deleted them both. 

From then on, I pressed "delete" without reading these kinds of emails. Quick deletion was possible because the first line of messages appears in my inbox and clues me in to the rest. So, this daily process wasn't too time consuming. Then variants appeared. Authors I didn't know wanted to connect with me as a fellow writer. A few were famous, like "Margret Atwood." Fortunately, I knew the real Atwood spells her first name "Margaret." 

The most recent variant came from "Kaela" who said she'd tried to post a review of my novel A Killer Whisky on Amazon but her review was rejected, so she asked for my Goodreads link to post a review there. Her story was plausible as I know many people who've been unable to post Amazon reviews, but why would she need my Goodreads link? While I was suspicious, I wrote back advising her to search for me on Goodreads. Meanwhile, a second person (I'll call him Jake) emailed me with the same review issues.  

"Kaela" replied with an attachment of the Goodreads review she'd posted. I went directly to the Goodreads site and her review was there! Was this really legitimate? I sent "Jake" my same reply, suggesting he search for me on Goodreads. I also thanked "Kaela" for her review. Then -- big mistake -- I decided to copy her rave review for my records and clicked on her attachment. Seconds later, alarms shrilled on my computer. A voice blared "Your IP address is stolen!" My computer mouse didn't work. I think the voice told me NOT to shut down my computer, but this is exactly what you should do in that situation. It worked. When I turned my computer back on, all was normal with no apparent damage done.   

"Jake" had now replied. I was curious to see what he'd said and assumed my computer would be safe if I didn't open any attachments or click on links. I opened his email and the alarm instantly blared because he had embedded his review in the email message. Curse you "Jake" for fooling me a second time. 

"Kaela" replied to my thank-you note with a message that began, "Susan, you're very welcome! It truly was my pleasure to read and review ..." I was too afraid to open her email for fear of crashing my computer, but I pinned the email to the top of my inbox in case I had the nerve (or foolishness) to see what she had said.  

Writers who've responded to these scam emails say that, once they rope you in, they ask for money to fund the project they'll set up for your awesome book. Some direct you to websites that look legit but turn out to be phony. The individual amounts requested aren't enormous, but if a percentage of the targeted authors sends money, presumably the accumulated amount is worth the scammer's effort. 

Like all scams, they appeal to the target's weakness. In this case, it's every writers' longing for their hard-earned work to reach and be appreciated by readers.         

Sadder still, these scam emails have made me suspicious of every unexpected email related to my writing. In the past, I've enjoyed engaging with readers this way, and some were strangers with genuine interest. I can't even fully trust emails of this type from people I know because email addresses can be stolen. Along the way, I'll probably delete an opportunity that is actually real. 

So far, this post has been all about the Bad & Ugly of Artificial Intelligence, but the Good exists. For the past 13 years, I've exchanged letters with a relative in the Czech Republic. Neither of us speaks the other's language. I compose my letters in English, plug them into Google Translate, and send her the Czech translation. I've suggested she do the same, but she continues to handwrite me letters in Czech. I tried typing them on Google translate, but it doesn't work because every second Czech word has an accent. Over the years, I've scrambled to find people to translate her letters, but now, thanks to AI, I photographed her last letter, uploaded it to ChatGPT, and got a good translation. 

I'm sure Artificial Intelligence has hundreds of other useful applications, and I can see a great potential for medical diagnoses and treatment programs. Every innovation comes with the good, bad, & ugly.

Today, in the name of research for this blog post, I opened "Kaela's" latest email on my old computer. No alarms went off. My computer didn't freeze. "Kaela's" friendly message continued with an offer to introduce me to Book Cafe to promote my novel that touched her deeply. She signed off with a casual, "Would you like more details?"

I deleted her but almost feel we had a relationship. Creepy, but maybe in the future we'll all have AI friends. Is this a huge leap from Facebook and other online friendships?  

I also checked my novel's reviews on the Goodreads site. "Kaela's" rave review is gone. Drat!