LOMÉ, Togo – Few months ago, I showed to a friend here in Togo a reggae video that portrays a beautiful DJ-girl with long, blonde locks playing music in the Jamaican forest. My friend kept staring at the screen while listening to the music. I then told her that that was an “AI-girl” not a real girl. She couldn’t believe me. She continued watching the video hoping to prove me wrong. Few weeks ago, I did the same thing with another friend in Italy and she couldn’t believe me either. The DJ-locks-lady repeated the same moves every ten seconds and that was the simplest way to set her apart from a real human that never repeats his or her moves exactly the same. 

I never really cared too much for this “AI” debate. I personally try to see the advantages and disadvantages of any tool but it’s interesting to listen to Hollywood actors talk about it: Ben Affleck, Reese Witherspoon, Gwyneth Paltrow, Ryan Reynolds, all of them in support of AI and involved in business deals with a number of tech companies. I use AI mainly to check language translations or professional information. Only sometimes I have to compromise a little while working on a short-film because AI can be very, very convenient for special effects and contracts editing. I’m not against AI, I’m just curious…for now. 

Last October, though, I published an “opinion piece” on my website titled: “LOCAL OHIO”. About two months after publication, I began checking and recording, every once in a while (!), how an “AI-review” would describe and make sense of what I wrote. I’m sure many of us do that. I was wondering what could have been an AI opinion piece about my opinion piece. It was interesting to follow the few, minor words and passages that kept changing overtime, almost every day. Some of the AI-reviews would focus on the game of basketball, others on the cultural barriers we all face in our own countries, others still on the reality of “disgruntled local parenting” in the US (that was funny when I read it). 

I like reviews and it doesn’t matter where they come from: friends or family members, colleagues or partners, social media comments or people that you never met and never will. Reviews help you to understand what other people think or how they feel about what you write on any given subject. There’s no right or wrong review, of course, just painful, boring or constructive ones. For months there were no particular changes in the AI-reviews for LOCAL OHIO, the gist of the article was always there and pretty well explained. All I had to do was typing “LOCAL OHIO Matteo Koffi” and voilà, the results were in. 

Many AI-reviews began by offering to the readers a general introduction of the article with no particular surprises: “Local Ohio is an autobiographical article and personal essay written by the freelance journalist, author, and filmmaker Matteo Koffi; Local Ohio is an article and commentary written by freelance investigative journalist Matteo Koffi; Local Ohio is a specific newsletter story or autobiographical entry written by the freelance journalist and author Matteo Koffi; Local Ohio is an open letter and opinion piece written by freelance journalist Matteo Koffi regarding the evolution of global podcasting and cultural exchange; published on his official journalism site, the piece uses his personal history as an exchange student at Conotton Valley High School in Ohio in 1998 to argue how media platforms can benefit from structural, global diversification.”

 “…Regarding the evolution of global podcasting and cultural exchange”, nice one, I couldn’t have said it better. 

The AI-reviews would go on by giving some more context, especially on the story’s geographic location: “The piece reflects on his personal experiences as an exchange student at Conotton Valley High School in Ohio in 1998; the piece details his youth experiences attending high school in rural Ohio as an exchange student; the story takes place at Conotton Valley High School, a school located in rural Ohio.” And then: “In this specific text, Koffi reflects on his experiences as an exchange student in Ohio nearly thirty years prior, while drawing a thematic parallel to his recent discovery of The Joe Rogan Experience, an incredibly popular podcast boasting over 20 million subscribers. It explores the intense cultural contrast between the Italian educational system and American high school sports, as well as the underlying social tensions and personal identity exploration that later influenced his life choices.”

“Koffi compares the surreal experience of arriving in Ohio from Milan, Italy, to stepping straight into 1990s American TV dramas like Beverly Hills 90210 or Dawson's Creek. In this story published on his official website, Koffi details a personal, high-pressure experience playing basketball under a young, passionate coach. The narrative revolves around the coach's dilemma of trying to win games using international players versus pacifying disgruntled local parents by benching those players in favor of a ‘local team’. Koffi describes his ultimate frustration when the coach gave in to parental pressure, heavily restricting his court time alongside teammates Daniel and Julian.”

And then the AI-review would often expand its thinking.

“Koffi uses the phrase There’s no ‘I’ in TEAM to illustrate how cultural truths and conceptual concepts (?) built into the English language often lose their exact literal and structural meaning when translated into other languages, such as Italian (“Non c'è alcuna 'I' in SQUADRA”); he recounts a major victory that landed the school on the front page of a local Ohio newspaper;

he recounts playing basketball for his local Ohio high school team, detailing a specific memory where they won a game, landed on the front page of a local Ohio newspaper, and celebrated a 24-point performance with his teammates; Koffi reminisces about his youth in Ohio, touching upon high school life, local community dynamics, and a difficult high school basketball season with the Conotton Valley team.”

“Decades after his time in Ohio, Koffi details how he discovered Joe Rogan's platform. He expresses fascination with the sheer scale of Rogan's audience and the diverse, high-profile nature of his guests, ranging from scientists and politicians to former CIA officers and billionaires; the Core Theme: Koffi uses the American idiom ‘There's no I in TEAM’ to explore the linguistic and conceptual challenges of translating teamwork across cultures (noting it does not work in his native Italian); the core of the essay centers around high school sports culture, where he joins the basketball team.”

In other versions the AI-review would make its own conclusions. 

“The commentary serves as a bridge between the author's past encounters with provincial American culture and the vast, globally-connected media landscape dominated by massive independent podcasts today; Koffi compares the ideal evolution of global digital media to international student exchange programs; Koffi suggests that inviting normal, non-famous experts from different countries who speak fluent English would offer a healthier, more realistic perspective on our interconnected world; Koffi uses his time as an Ohio exchange student to frame a broader commentary on international perspectives.”

“The phrase ‘LOCAL OHIO’ refers specifically to a section of his investigative diary and personal website. In this piece, he recounts his personal experiences as a young athlete in Ohio, focusing on: basketball and Identity; he describes the pressure of being a "non-local" player on an Ohio basketball team, where the coach faced tension between playing the best talent (international players like Koffi) and appeasing parents who wanted a more "local" team; The Conflict of ‘Localism’: the story highlights the exclusion he felt as his playing time was reduced to satisfy local social pressures, eventually leading to his frustration with the ‘local’ system in Ohio.”

“The Takeaway: he concludes that teams and communities need cultural diversity—and exchange students—to truly thrive and expand their perspective of the world; the commentary serves as a bridge between the author's past encounters with provincial American culture and the vast, globally-connected media landscape dominated by massive independent podcasts today; Koffi expresses fascination with the sheer scale of Rogan's audience and the diverse, high-profile nature of his guests, ranging from scientists and politicians to former CIA officers and billionaires.”

All in all, these AI-reviews seemed pretty fair. But I felt I needed to keep checking because few weeks ago this came out of the blue:

“Media Criticism: The article specifically addresses the Joe Rogan Experience (JRE) podcast.

The ‘Geolocal’ Concept: He argues that major media platforms should shift from a purely local focus to a ‘geolocal’ framework. This means inviting everyday experts and citizens from different countries to foster realistic, interconnected global conversations.” That “media criticism” section was interesting to me. AI took some of the article as criticism towards the JRE. Ok, I guess so but that wasn’t my main intention, enough people do that already with that podcast.

Anyway, it went on like this for months, more or less until June.  

Then one day in late June the reviews started to change a little more. AI began to add a “small” detail that in my piece has never found any space. Not all the time, but quite often, the AI-reviews started to insert the fact that I also criticized Peter Thiel’s company, Palantir, which was untrue. I don’t know why AI decided to add this wrong piece of information. My article doesn’t mention Peter Thiel nor Palantir, not once. It only mentions “billionaires” in general. But, as we all know, AI is an all but perfect tool, so I let it be, thinking that AI would eliminate that bit soon enough. I don’t care so much about Thiel nor his company, I actually feel sorry for people like him. I went back to the AI-reviews during the next few days and Palantir was still there with another addition about “Palestine and the conflict in Gaza”, another subject not included in the article. I didn’t even bother to copy and paste these latest reviews because I was convinced that AI would correct itself, eventually. But in late July the AI-reviews turned into something completely off.  

“If your search for ‘LOCAL OHIO Matteo Koffi’ was a typo or a combined query, it appears to pull from separate viral food/travel trends (such as the popular Eat Local Ohio social media tag or reviews mentioning the Koffi local coffee brand). However, the core named individual is a prominent African-Italian reporter.” Another AI-review recites: “It appears you might be mixing two completely different topics: the state of Ohio (US) and the award-winning independent journalist Matteo Fraschini Koffi, who is actually closely tied to Lomé, Togo. There are no official records linking Matteo Fraschini Koffi to a local office, residency, or specific reporting in Ohio. Instead, his entire professional and personal footprint centers around West Africa and Italy.” 

By adding “article” to the search on the piece this came out: “The local news article you are likely referring to outlines an active central Ohio Medicaid fraud investigation involving a former Columbus-area couple, rather than freelance journalist Matteo Koffi. Reports published by NBC4i WCMH-TV and Yahoo News state that the unnamed couple is accused of defrauding Ohio Medicaid of $9 million before fleeing the country.” I don’t know what’s behind these radical changes but I found them confusing. Sometimes the AI-review on Local Ohio was not even there, only my biography.

Finally, another friend of mine from Milan came to Togo for the first time to see where I was born and where I’ve been living for the past decade. Yesterday evening, just before sunset at the end of a long day we sat in front of the ocean for a beer and I told her about the piece I was going to write on the AI-review. She doesn’t know much about AI, just like me, but she was also quite surprised about the evolution of these changes since October 15^th. We discussed the issue for about twenty minutes, knowing that her attention span for topics like this one is very short. 

This morning, as I was then ready to publish this piece, I checked again one last time just to be sure and, lo and behold, my usual AI-review was back on: “LOCAL OHIO is a specific article and memoir entry published by freelance journalist Matteo Fraschini Koffi on his personal website. The piece recalls his time playing basketball at Conotton Valley High School in Ohio, detailing a milestone second game victory that landed the school's sports team on the front page of a local Ohio newspaper”.

Dear AI, now we’re talking.

Matteo Fraschini Koffi