When the Monkey King transforms

VHO - One of the classic works in ancient Chinese literature is Journey to the West, written by Wu Cheng'en. The work tells the story of the Tang Dynasty, where the monk Xuanzang, obeying the Buddhist command to travel to the West to obtain Buddhist scriptures, became known as Tang Monk.

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The journey is fraught with obstacles and demons. Accompanying Tang Sanzang are the valiant Monkey King, the still-lustful Pigsy, and the hardworking and peace-seeking Sha Monk. Particularly valiant is the Monkey King, known as the Great Sage Equal to Heaven, possessing 72 magical powers. These fantastical stories showcase the author's incredibly rich imagination, captivating readers for millennia.

In South Vietnam before 1975, there was a long comic book series called "The Monkey King," which captivated many readers, especially teenagers. The Monkey King wielded his iron staff and possessed 72 magical transformations. He could "fly on clouds," and with a single blow of his feather, hundreds of other Monkey Kings would appear, preventing demons from distinguishing the real one. He could also transform himself into nothingness, a bee, or any other person, making it impossible for demons to tell the difference between the real and the fake.

Recently, sitting next to me were some mischievous literary friends who, using their smartphones, transformed two characters from abroad into a couple drinking on a sidewalk in Vietnam. And it was a pair of a teacher and a poet. It looked exactly the same. That's why I remembered the novel Journey to the West. Living millennia ago, the author Wu Cheng'en imagined humans could do things that only gods could accomplish, or in other words, things only a person with an incredibly vivid imagination could conceive of.

Nowadays, AI seems capable of doing things that the legendary Shi Nai'an could only write down in words. Of course, this isn't about magically transforming one person into another, or turning a person into a bee, but rather transforming people through images. AI can make the image of one person speak with the same voice as another. Therefore, the blurring of the lines between "fake" and "real" has become difficult to distinguish.

If the Monkey King transformed to fight demons, today AI can transform to distort the truth, making it impossible for many to distinguish between reality and fiction. The more civilized humanity becomes, the more inventions and innovations they create, only to find themselves having to confront the very inventions they created. The modern world has paid a heavy price for its civilization and convenience.

Not to mention AI, the digital age with its ease of copying has already made many art forms very difficult. You paint a masterpiece? People copy it effortlessly. So who will you sell it to, and for what price? Literary works and even masters of art research can become victims through simple operations like downloading, copying, and pasting, then "erasing" the traces.

This means that technology makes things easier for thieves, while true art struggles to defend itself. Therefore, managers must find solutions to address the problems arising in the digital age. Creating Sun Wukong to fight demons, not his own kind, is something truly worth considering.

It is gratifying that the National Assembly recently passed a law on this matter. Hopefully, when implemented, the law will contribute to societal development while preventing potential dangers and minimizing concerns.

Source: https://baovanhoa.vn/nhip-song-so/khi-te-thien-bien-hinh-194052.html