Mar Vincent discusses how the pervasive rise of LLMs served as impetus for her short story “Discorporation”, available to read in our [September/October issue, on sale now!]
Every person is a corporation, motivated by corporate greed.
For me, short stories often form from a few phrases or images with a visual or thematic connection strong enough to compel me to start writing. In this case the line above, paired with an image of the sort of dystopian future society that would want its population to think this way, caught my interest enough to start a story seed turning over in my head. While I’ll generally stew on an idea for a while until it feels ready to write, this one came together sooner than usual, set into motion by an unexpected catalyst: the unveiling of ChatGPT and similar forms of machine learning.
Whatever their utility, it can’t be denied that this technology was built upon the work of countless creatives without seeking permission before, or even after, the fact. Like ChatGPT and other LLMs, the anatomical prosthetics of Discorporation are a technology touted and distributed before being ethically—or physically—proven harmless.
If every person is a corporation motivated by corporate greed, then consumers only need to be concerned with their own best interests—or rather, their own wants and desires. Corporations that control the market win out under this dynamic, convincing society that behaviors like profit-hoarding, margin-cutting, and degradation of products are natural, human, even when they prove to have damaging effects on both an individual and societal scale.
In this system, where corporate and governmental authorities are inextricably connected and wholly focused on remaining in power, those who suffer due to the selfishness of corporate greed have no recourse to seek justice. Even employees of these corporations who might believe themselves an exception, thanks to proving their loyalty with long hours and self sacrifice, become victims of corporate machinery.
And, though it’s easy to blame a corporation for the aftermath of defective prosthetics or stolen creative work, there is still, ultimately, a human (or a group of them) in charge of this decision making, likely eager to deflect responsibility for any negative outcome away from themselves.
At first glance, the dystopia of Discorporation doesn’t have much in common with our current challenges concerning AI. The technology itself, whether anatomical prosthetics or machine learning, isn’t inherently bad or immoral; the motivations of those who control the technology are what must be interrogated. Do these companies care about the people who will be impacted by the technology and the way it’s used, or simply about their own bottom line?
When humans are valued solely for their ability to consume and contribute to the benefit of corporations, the technology in question can slip into the dangerous territory of becoming both dehumanized and dehumanizing. Our bodies, like our creative endeavors, are so much more than the tangible components—chemical, biological, algorithmic—they can be broken down into.
And, though it’s easy to blame a corporation for the aftermath of defective prosthetics or stolen creative work, there is still, ultimately, a human (or a group of them) in charge of this decision making, likely eager to deflect responsibility for any negative outcome away from themselves. Certain powerful people make the ripple effects of their corporate greed felt in the rest of society around and beneath them.
How can an ordinary person fight back against a corporate-governmental structure that seeks to make any resistance impossible? This is the main character’s dilemma even as she struggles to hold onto the little personal and physical autonomy she still has. As both a prosthetics technician and a recipient herself, she has the dual experience to understand that personal revenge isn’t enough of a motive to act on. If the order of the world is going to change in any way, society itself needs to be course corrected.
One person might not be able to change the world with a single act, but she can call others to action. She can spark a fire of resistance that implores people to recognize their shared humanity, their stake in society, and the justice they deserve despite a system that does all it can to tell them otherwise.
Hopefully the technological advances of our reality will recenter and reconsider the human element before too much damage is done.
The Astounding Analog Companion 