A word on AI made by Canary Canard

Author’s preface, by Xavier Combe

 

Ever since the biblical story of the Tower of Babel in which God punished humans for their arrogant desire to reach the sky by forcing them to speak a multitude of languages so they could not understand one another, the standardization of languages has been a subject of fascination. The translation industry, which bears very little economic significance, has been among the first to be impacted by AI. We would have preferred AI to do the cleaning, the ironing or the dishes for us, but no, it is replacing us in intellectually exhilarating tasks. I know whereof I speak, I’ve been a translator for over forty years. So yes, I hold a grudge against short-sighted, greedy individuals who’ve used AI to suppress my profession.

In their day, Marx and Engels decried how the bourgeoisie seized the instruments of production (tools, machinery, infrastructure) from the proletariat, forcing workers to survive on their labor alone. Today, AI is out to capture and suppress that labor power.

But we’re told not to worry and to bear in mind the Schumpeter growth theory that posits that innovation and the process of "creative destruction" drive economic growth and improve living standards globally because new technologies and ideas replace older methods and products, leading to advancements in quality of life, health, and prosperity. Sure, whatever. When Joel Mockyr, Peter Howitt and Frenchman Philippe Aghion – staunch advocates of that theory - were awarded the Nobel Memorial Prize in Economic Sciences in 2025, millions of people all over the world who are losing their jobs to advanced robotics and AI jumped for joy and partied hard, no doubt.

Capitalism feeds on plundering the environment and stretching social inequalities. And far-right politicians, as you have noticed, are the paragons of that behavior, even if their rhetoric suggests otherwise. That is what we at Canary Canard are fighting against. And far-right politicians abhor culture, free thought, knowledge, science and humanistic approaches to progress, which is precisely what we at Canary Canard are fighting for. Those who command powerful technological and economic resources, along with substantial human capital for intervention, possess significant capabilities for influencing cultural change. They can influence a significant number of people concerning the truth about humanity, the world and so on. This is pure power detached from truth, which subtly or overtly imposes what it wishes others to accept as true.

My stories have been acclaimed in flash fiction contests and published in the US, the UK and Ireland. They are produced with “Human Inside” values, I don’t even use a spellchecker. And the voicing is natural. I’m not the kind of person who sings with autotune. Actually, I don’t sing at all but I play the drums. When drum machines emerged in the 1980s (Marvin Gaye’s Sexual Healing uses a Roland TR-808), drummers began to worry. Today, samples, autotune and many other technological tools are commonplace. Some musicians even use AI to produce their lyrics. And some don’t say so.
We at Canary Canard believe we must neither demonize nor idolize technological tools, but utilize them on the basis of a fundamental principle, namely that truth is a common good and not the property of those with power or influence. AI can be a valuable tool and, at the same time, it calls for a measured and vigilant approach. In recent years, its private use has expanded significantly, prompting growing reflection on both the opportunities it offers and the risks tied to its rapid spread. In the case of large language models, the need for computing power and storage capacity has grown and that requires an extensive network of machines, cables, data centers and energy-intensive infrastructure. For this reason, it is essential to develop more sustainable technological solutions that reduce environmental impact and help protect our common home. As environmentally aware citizens, we do our bit but big decisions are the responsibility of political decision-makers. And when autocratic leaders make self-serving decisions against the common good, we must fight back forcefully - whatever the means.

Canary Canard is a home for absurdist stories crafted in an old-fashioned way and showcased and supported by other media using modern tools. Canary Canard is more like an experience ecosystem: comedy, absurdism, historical echoes, literary mischief, tone shifts and even a little cabaret or salon energy.
We don’t produce fiction just the sheer fun of it (although it is immensely gleeful and several audio fiction and film festivals on the receiving end who have awarded us prizes seem to agree). We realize we are in a critical period where it’s either ecology or death, fascism or democracy. We humbly believe humor can help audiences move in the best possible direction – towards the common good. And if the creative use of technology that requires talent and labor power can temporarily support that message for all intents and purposes, so be it.

 

Translator’s note: Though I am French, live in a secular society and do not believe in God, I wrote this preface shortly after reading Pope Leo XIV’s brilliant Encyclical Letter Magnifica Humanitas on safeguarding the human person in the time of Artificial Intelligence. It draws upon it significantly. I’m waiting to see if Leo will sue me for plagiarism. And by the way, the Encyclical is pretty well translated - I wonder if the Vatican used AI.

And as for Schumpeter, who was a rather unbiased economist neither from the classical nor the Keynesian schools of thought, no one ever mentions the fact that he pointed out that free-market capitalism cannot last forever. So perhaps a walloping creative destruction of the global economy is yet to come.