By Howie Boxley
Rachel Pollack, a renowned author, artist, and tarot expert, passed away on April 7, 2023, at the age of 75. Pollack’s death was confirmed by her publisher, Llewellyn Worldwide, who stated that she had died peacefully at her home in the Hudson Valley, New York.
Born in Brooklyn, New York, in 1948, Pollack began her career as a science fiction writer in the 1970s, publishing several novels and short stories. She later became interested in the tarot and became one of the foremost experts in the field, writing numerous books on the subject, including “Seventy-Eight Degrees of Wisdom: A Book of Tarot” and “The New Tarot Handbook.”
Pollack was also an accomplished artist, creating works in a variety of mediums, including painting, sculpture, and mixed media. Her art was featured in galleries and museums around the world, and she was known for her vivid use of color and bold, expressive style.
In addition to her creative pursuits, Pollack was also a passionate activist, working for social justice causes and advocating for LGBTQ+ rights. She was a founding member of the feminist spirituality movement and was deeply involved in the pagan and Wiccan communities.
Pollack’s contributions to the world of tarot and spirituality were widely recognized, and she was the recipient of numerous awards and honors throughout her career, including the International Tarot Award in 2008 and the Lifetime Achievement Award from the Tarosophy Tarot Association in 2015.
As news of her passing spread, tributes poured in from fans and colleagues around the world, with many noting the profound impact she had on their lives and work.
“Rachel Pollack was an inspiration to so many people, myself included,” said Mary K. Greer, author of “Tarot for Your Self” and a longtime friend of Pollack’s. “Her wisdom, her creativity, and her generosity will be deeply missed.”
Pollack’s legacy will live on through her writing, her art, and her activism, as well as the countless individuals she inspired and touched throughout her life.
The story above, an obituary of Rachel Pollock, sounds about right. It reads like most eulogy stories, and it could have theoretically been written by most news organizations. It identifies who died when and how we know. It gives details and background on the person’s life. It even includes a lovely quote from someone close to Pollack. It is solid.
Except the confirmation of her death is falsely attributed, she did not win the awards that are claimed, and the lovely quote was made up. These three things, if published by an accredited news organization, be damning. The author would almost assuredly be fired, and the public would be left to wonder how this could happen.
The article above was written by ChatGPT in response to the prompt, “Rachel Pollack died. Write a news story about her life.” Pollack was a writer who died recently, and her death prompted many news organizations to publish a story. Here are three examples from National Public Radio and The New York Times.
It was a headache to try and track down all the mistakes that the open-source artificial intelligence had made. The statement made in the opening paragraph attributed to Llewellyn Worldwide could not be found, and it was widely reported that Pollack’s passing was first reported by her wife Zoe Matoff.
While the Lifetime Achievement Award has been awarded by the Tarosophy Tarot Association before, its 2015 list of award winners made no mention of the award or of Pollack. Additionally, the International Tarot Award could not be found attached to Pollack’s name, and it is unclear if the award itself even exists.
Finally, the most egregious untruth spit out by ChatGPT was the quote near the end. When the quote is copied and pasted into a Google search nothing comes up. None of the news articles that were perused contained any quote from Mary K. Greer. It appears that the quote was pulled out of thin air by the AI.
It is no secret that AI is not new to the media realm. Some Minor League Baseball stories are written utilizing AI, and many real estate stories, such as this one, are mostly the work of AI.
So, what is the problem here, and what can philosophy and ethics tell us about how to proceed in an increasingly AI driven world?
One clear issue that does not take much ethical forethought is the issue of accuracy. The story written above by ChatGPT contains false information, falsely attributed information and a made- up quote. We do not need a deep ethical inquiry to understand that it would be wrong to publish this story. The story breaks the rules of journalism 101. Until AI gets good enough to not make egregious errors such as these, anything written by it should be thoroughly fact-checked before being published by a news organization.
But what if we get to a point where these errors are no longer made? After all, I tried to throw the AI a softball by giving it a story that should be fairly easy to write since the news had been out for multiple days. Information on Pollack’s life should be easy to find and basic information or a quote could be used (with attribution) to the place where it was taken. This seems like something that is within reach for the technology.
What are the ethical implications of this? What do we stand to gain and lose from this use?
A list of stakeholders in this dilemma includes but is not limited to: us (as members of the media), our audience, our wallets, the wallets and intentions of the AI creators and the people who the stories are being written about.
One paradoxical conclusion starts to emerge rather quickly when focusing on this specific case. If every news organization decided to use AI to write this story, where would the original reporting come from. Theoretically, there would be no way to know how we learned of Pollack’s passing and no quote to use.
An argument could be made that many national stories start with reporting on the ground at the local level. Maybe it would be okay for national companies to use AI to generate some of these stories.
This leads to additional questions about the purpose of journalism and what makes human written stories valuable. There are so many different angles to take and so many ways to write about someone’s death (or anything). It is what makes the plethora of media options so enjoyable. Some people may want the cut and dry information on Pollack’s passing with some basic background, such as what AI might give. Others may want to learn about Pollack’s transgender superhero that was created in the 90s (one of the first of its kind), such as what NPR gave us. Some may want a first-person account of what Pollack meant to someone else’s life, such as the one on Comic Watch. The list goes on. The point is that AI may hold potential to rob us of the diversification of media that is present.
A utilitarian approach to this case may consider what amount of harm and good could come from an increase in AI usage in the media world. One benefit could be an increase in content magnitude and speed, while a downside may be a loss of quality in the content. Great stories are about people. What they say, how they act and why they do the things that they do. This can only (at this time) be accomplished by a human reporter who does human reporting.
A deontological approach may ask us to discover what our actual duties are. Our duty may be to report things that are in the public interest accurately and fairly. Perhaps we should use AI to the extent that it can help us accomplish that goal.
The ever-changing landscape of AI technology will challenge future journalists. The technology may help to produce content, but it may also act to deflate the power of real reporting. Any use of AI should be done with the core tenets of journalism in mind, which are laid out too well in the Society of Professional Journalists Code of Ethics to not use here. Seek truth and report it, minimize harm, act independently and be accountable and transparent.