OPINION by Mamal Ermaqi/ Why I chose to be rich

 Kliko këtu për të tjera
Voxpress:

Death: assessments and debates

2025-08-28 18:08:15Pikëpamje SHKRUAR NGA ÇAPAJEV GJOKUTAJ
Chapaev Gjokutaj

Even in the reactions to the untimely death of Artur Zheji, alongside respect and appreciation, there was no shortage of tendencies to smear and slander him, tendencies that are especially prevalent in anonymous comments at the end of articles and posts in online media.

I asked COPILOT how this almost perverse trend is explained: the deceased has not yet been buried, custom dictates that he be honored at least with silence, while the kennel of anonymous people begins to gossip, smear him, and vomit bile?

Below is COPILOT's response as proof that machines are not only catching up with humans in information processing and analysis, but are also leaving a part of us behind, both in ethics and in constructiveness.

2-

Slander and slander, especially against public figures, are signs not only of a lack of ethics, but also of an infected cultural climate, where debate is replaced by attack and reflection by anger. Let us elaborate on the main factors that feed this approach:

a- Anonymity and freedom without responsibility on social networks

* Platforms like Facebook, Instagram, or TikTok allow comments from anonymous profiles, where individuals feel free to express anger, jealousy, or hatred without any real consequences.

* This creates a culture of contempt, a culture in which mudslinging is easier than arguing.

b- Poverty of critical thinking

* In the absence of in-depth analysis that would nourish and guide the media discourse, many people choose to judge public figures through rumors, stereotypes, or prejudices.

* There is no culture of fully reading an idea — but only reacting to a word, a headline, a photo.

c- Political polarization and media tribalism

* Figures like Artur Zheji, who have had different stances at times, are often seen as "traitors" by one side and "heroes" by the other.

* Instead of a balanced assessment, a tribal judgment based on the motto "with us or against us" occurs.

ç- Culture of ingratitude

* In Albania, we often don't know how to appreciate contribution, especially when it brings innovation.

* Figures who have their own opinions and do not fall into party trenches often face opposition from both sides.

d- Replacing debate with contempt

* Instead of discussing a person's ideas, we often resort to personal attacks: about their private life, their appearance, their ancestor's biography.

* This is a sign of a society that lacks the ethics of debate, ethics where criticism is part of respect, not hatred.

e- Lack of institutions that protect memory

* When there are no archives, anthologies, or documentaries, public figures remain defenseless against distortion.

* Misinformation and stereotypes flourish when there are no preserved facts, when memory is disorganized.

How can we intervene?

* Media education: learning how to read, how to analyze, how to debate.

* Creating platforms of memory: where public figures are preserved with dignity, with honest criticism, with a documented legacy.

* Promoting the ethics of debate: where opposition is not contempt, but part of a healthy dialogue

3-

These were the words of Copilot, giving in a few seconds the structure of an analysis that, unfortunately, seems to me to be above average among the analyses carried out in our media. Of course, the text in question also has its weaknesses and shortcomings, but this is not the place to discuss them here.

While reading it, something else caught my attention. I've come across quite a few of the terms Copilot used these days in some of the critical writings about the way we honor public figures when they die.

There are two possibilities: either Copilot took them from these articles (one of the advantages of this chatbot is that, unlike ChatGPT, it is updated almost in real time), or the authors of the articles took them from Copilot, in short, before they sat down to write, they consulted with him, they asked for his help.

Both hypotheses are possible, but I would like the second one to be true, that is, that the publicists took from Copilot. I know that someone will jump up and say: yes, this is plagiarism or, in Albanian, outright theft.

In fact, at the stage that AI chatbots are at, they can be effectively used to do preliminary work before writing an analysis, article, essay, etc. And you can use it like any other preliminary work, just don't copy it, let alone take it word for word, without declaring this action.

The desire for our journalists and intellectuals to consult with one or another AI chatbot as often as possible has another, much more important source. Their service in Albanian is far from the service in the major languages ??of developed countries. This is for a number of reasons.

AI chatbots know nothing about Albania or America, they learn everything by 'grinding' as many online sources as possible. Albanian has very few of these. Especially academic sources are almost completely absent because we have them on paper and very few on the web. Not to mention that the Albanian information that circulates on the web has a lot, far too much chaff and very little, very little grain.

To be convinced of this, it is enough to take a look at the Albanian Wikipedia, where, in addition to the serious work of a number of diligent volunteers, there is no shortage, indeed there are many mediocrity, partisanship and even hooliganism. We have a lot, too much hooliganism on the streets, but it is likely that hooliganism online has surpassed that of the street.

Another reason for the backwardness of AI chatbots in handling Albanian subjects is that, as a rule, they learn guided by trainers. It is worth noting that for Albanian, such trainers are very few because we are a small and insignificant market. Another factor that influences quite a bit: chatbots have a lot of difficulty learning Albanian due to the very nature of our grammar. There are other factors of this kind that make it difficult to process Albanian subjects.

Of course, all of these shortcomings require an institutional approach to mitigate and overcome them, but until then, individuals can do a lot. The more AI chatbots are activated in Albanian, the better they will learn Albanian and the easier and less error-prone they will be to handle Albanian subjects.


Në përputhje me standarded JTI

Video

SHIKO KANALIN NE YOUTUBE
×