This morning, in my AP English class, my teacher introduced us to a TED Talk video on how text is dying, and how in the future, it will be replaced by AI-generated videos. One profound statement from that video inspired me to write my article on this topic this week. “Your grandchildren will be the last generation to read and write.” As unbelievable as it sounds, the more he dived into his explanation, the more unfortunately realistic it seemed.
Of course, his bias was strong, as Victor Reparbelli is the cofounder and CEO of Synthesia, an AI-powered video creation platform, but the points he made were nonetheless valid, and made me think. AI is obviously advancing at astounding rates, and AI-generated videos are being casually integrated into the FYPs of platforms like TikTok and Instagram. While this is concerning to people like me, who are one of the first generations truly experiencing the impressive power of AI, it makes me wonder if that initial profound statement was not so far off-base.
Reading text is being quickly replaced everywhere we look. While it has been one of the most effective forms of communication across the world for centuries, the developing short-form, quick videos accessible to most through Instagram reels and YouTube shorts have become the preferred version of entertainment.
AI takes these videos to a new level. Instead of having to wait on a human to take days to script, record, and post a video, AI can produce a video in seconds from a prompt. With the death of text and the birth of AI-generated content, information becomes something we watch instead of something we read. As I type this, I wonder how AI-generated content will affect the already deteriorating state of journalism, as fewer and fewer people turn to articles for information and more and more turn to speedy, easily digestible videos that they have to use considerably less brain power to process.
Though I am aware of the lack of people who will engage with this article through a school newspaper, I encourage you to resist this quick evolution, as I truly believe that giving in to AI will lead us to lose our depth, our patience, and our critical thinking skills as a whole.
Text is not gone yet, but for the first time, it has found serious competition, and that is something we should all, at the very least, consider.
