I use AI a lot for research. Sometimes for outlining ideas. Once in a while for writing copy. I think it's a great tool. You definitely need to be careful not to sound like AI. You can run your writing through AI and ask it if it sounds like AI. Ultimately, it's the vivid details, personal experiences, nuanced ideas, and beautiful way you sculpt a phrase that can not be replaced by a machine.
Thanks Amy. I don’t understand all the hate towards AI. To me it is like arguing about using a tractor, and saying real farmers don’t use tractors. I have gotten more organized and faster because of AI. I think some writers are just ignorant in how AI actually works and others are upset because they don’t want to pivot how they write, but don’t want anyone else to pivot either. It would be nice to write one novel a year, get paid millions, and not use AI for anything but that isn’t my reality. I still have to work a full time job and have other things I have to do, so Ai saves time and gets things done faster. One day I may be in a position where I can use it less, but I’m not there yet. I do understand some of the arguments like I saw a show about a man who carved sculptures out of trees with a chainsaw and people used Ai to copy his image and he got lost in the shuffle. So I realize that type of argument against Ai, but I think in the large scheme of things, Ai is going to help us more than hurt us. Sure, there may be scary times ahead but there will also be beautiful times ahead too. I think our governments and how we govern will eventually be forced to change because of AI. I just don’t see any of our government systems be able to stand the way they currently work. That shift may at times be painful, and scary, but I think ultimately in the end it will create a better future where people will be more free and creative, and ironically will be able to work less like a machine and more like a human because AI will take over all of the mundane, repetitive task that humans don’t like doing anyway.
I don't know about AI creating a better future. I think it'll depend on the field and what kind of regulations are put in place. There has steadily been a devaluing of work and a misunderstanding of how people conduct the business of their jobs that I do believe companies are going to grapple with mightily as AI is incorporated more and more without thought to how it'll impact the workforce. But fear and distrust of something new isn't going stop its inclusion so I do understand that adaption at some point is likely to become critical.
Thank you for writing this. I’ve been using chat in my day job, but struggle with my own writing. That said, I do use it for organizing and brainstorming—my biggest concerns are the copyright issues and authors/writers having their work used to train AI. Lots to consider and looking forward to learning more and reading your book.
I have struggled with AI from two points but after reading your article, Amy, I believe I've found a third. This tool has caused, and will continue to under a governing body that doesn't understand it and a tech/business industry that does, major ethical problems because of the lack of and resistance to regulating it. I do believe we're in an existential crisis regarding AI and while I do understand and accept the benefits of it as a tool, my concern is that its use is becoming so widespread so quickly without the proper education of how to use it that people aren't seeing it as a tool, they're seeing it as a means of not having to think. In this era of misinformation that's a problem.
Granted, that's not AI's fault. That's what decades worth of devaluing critical thinking in the American education system has done. When you are taught to study toward the test rather than engage with the material you're learning in any meaningful way, what you learn is how to take information told to you at face value and present it as fact without the appropriate context, without a desire to know more or look for other perspectives, or to at least verify what you're being told or taught is actually correct. I do appreciate, however, that there is a push from the states to build out education from K-12 with a focus on teaching AI. But the double-edge sword of this, as is the case for many things in the American education system, will be the disparity in the quality of education in this matter. The digital divide is already a depressing situation to think about and AI is primed to make it worse and at a more accelerated rate. And we're living under an administration that wants to dismantle the Department of Education. I mean it's galling to me that they're championing this world-changing technology and at the same time don't want to feed these kids or provide any oversight to ensure the states aren't creating greater disparities but I digress.
Outside of the ethical issues of copyright and sheer theft (again because of the lack of regulation), I struggle with AI because of my love for the craft of writing. I enjoy the time it takes to create and don't find it to be a burden. But that's the art side of it and I think the business side is where people are butting heads. In our conversations as writers, we could be more honest about some of the root of the opposition toward AI being that we romanticize what we do A LOT. And I do think that romanticization gatekeeps. People think if they can't write the next great American novel then they shouldn't write at all. #NotAllWriters but you'd be hard pressed not to find a writer who knows someone one or has had to be around someone who is haughty and/or snobby about writing to the point that they turn their noses up at the advances being made. They don't like self-publishing, they think writing as a field has become layman and too accessible, and they see AI as making this worse. While I think there's validity in the criticism about oversaturating the market and self-publishing opening the door to just anything being published and available to consumers without vetting or proper sourcing, I also see how this circles back to critical thinking.
But my realization upon reading your article, Amy, is that part of my resistance to AI stems from my need for control and aversion to asking for help. I like doing everything. But when considering writing as a business, not an art or a craft but a means of generating income, that's just not possible. I don't want to feed my thoughts and ideas into a system that's learning from everyone, so I'm aware that if AI was just contained to my little bubble that I might be more on board. However, I do know that my resistance isn't going to change the fact that this tech isn't going anywhere and that its application in this field can only be helped by people learning it and teaching others how to use the tech as ethically as they can. So I appreciate what you're setting out to do, Amy. We may not always agree about its use, but I'm willing to keep an open mind and learn. Especially when I think about organization and online research now that Google has a self-inflicted wound from the (Un)Helpful Content Update of 2023 rip the world's greatest functional search engine.
In closing, I do want to acknowledge though that the comparisons folks draw about AI from previous advancements don't quite work. The pen to typewriter still took time. As did typewriter to computer and cellphone to smartphone. AI is a different beast, mainly because it's free and it's available everywhere. My international friends always bring up just how inundated Americans are with commercials. The marketing here is ubiquitous and relentless. Previous advancements did not have this level of sell.
We're talking about tech giants who've poured billions into these tools and they're looking for a return on investment and they don't really care how flooding the market will change society as we know it especially if it means they have unfettered access to our data to continue to sell us things or sell that data to have third-parties sell to us instead. But you're right, we're not ostriches; we can't put our heads in the sand. And, while I have been a curmudgeon about this, I am actually gratified that you're going to be talking about AI in this space, Amy. For me, it's the right environment to learn more, so I'm looking forward to your posts and your perspective.
Before I got to the end of this post where you disclose that you used AI to write it, I knew that you had. I interact with a lot of AI generated writing in a part of my work, and once you know what to look for it’s very obvious. My biggest gripe with artificial intelligence is the blatant theft of intellectual property and the fact that “cleaning it up” still reads as the same bland text that is ubiquitous in all the writing that ppl refer to as “grunt work”. I realise it’s here to stay but ffs if you expect ppl to read your work at least put a little more effort into making that an enjoyable experience.
I use AI a lot for research. Sometimes for outlining ideas. Once in a while for writing copy. I think it's a great tool. You definitely need to be careful not to sound like AI. You can run your writing through AI and ask it if it sounds like AI. Ultimately, it's the vivid details, personal experiences, nuanced ideas, and beautiful way you sculpt a phrase that can not be replaced by a machine.
Great nuance, thanks Johanna!
Thanks Amy. I don’t understand all the hate towards AI. To me it is like arguing about using a tractor, and saying real farmers don’t use tractors. I have gotten more organized and faster because of AI. I think some writers are just ignorant in how AI actually works and others are upset because they don’t want to pivot how they write, but don’t want anyone else to pivot either. It would be nice to write one novel a year, get paid millions, and not use AI for anything but that isn’t my reality. I still have to work a full time job and have other things I have to do, so Ai saves time and gets things done faster. One day I may be in a position where I can use it less, but I’m not there yet. I do understand some of the arguments like I saw a show about a man who carved sculptures out of trees with a chainsaw and people used Ai to copy his image and he got lost in the shuffle. So I realize that type of argument against Ai, but I think in the large scheme of things, Ai is going to help us more than hurt us. Sure, there may be scary times ahead but there will also be beautiful times ahead too. I think our governments and how we govern will eventually be forced to change because of AI. I just don’t see any of our government systems be able to stand the way they currently work. That shift may at times be painful, and scary, but I think ultimately in the end it will create a better future where people will be more free and creative, and ironically will be able to work less like a machine and more like a human because AI will take over all of the mundane, repetitive task that humans don’t like doing anyway.
I agree, Kevin!
I don't know about AI creating a better future. I think it'll depend on the field and what kind of regulations are put in place. There has steadily been a devaluing of work and a misunderstanding of how people conduct the business of their jobs that I do believe companies are going to grapple with mightily as AI is incorporated more and more without thought to how it'll impact the workforce. But fear and distrust of something new isn't going stop its inclusion so I do understand that adaption at some point is likely to become critical.
Thank you for writing this. I’ve been using chat in my day job, but struggle with my own writing. That said, I do use it for organizing and brainstorming—my biggest concerns are the copyright issues and authors/writers having their work used to train AI. Lots to consider and looking forward to learning more and reading your book.
Thanks, Vanessa! I appreciate it and thanks for adding to the discussion. I agree with you -- there's tons to consider when it comes to AI.
I have struggled with AI from two points but after reading your article, Amy, I believe I've found a third. This tool has caused, and will continue to under a governing body that doesn't understand it and a tech/business industry that does, major ethical problems because of the lack of and resistance to regulating it. I do believe we're in an existential crisis regarding AI and while I do understand and accept the benefits of it as a tool, my concern is that its use is becoming so widespread so quickly without the proper education of how to use it that people aren't seeing it as a tool, they're seeing it as a means of not having to think. In this era of misinformation that's a problem.
Granted, that's not AI's fault. That's what decades worth of devaluing critical thinking in the American education system has done. When you are taught to study toward the test rather than engage with the material you're learning in any meaningful way, what you learn is how to take information told to you at face value and present it as fact without the appropriate context, without a desire to know more or look for other perspectives, or to at least verify what you're being told or taught is actually correct. I do appreciate, however, that there is a push from the states to build out education from K-12 with a focus on teaching AI. But the double-edge sword of this, as is the case for many things in the American education system, will be the disparity in the quality of education in this matter. The digital divide is already a depressing situation to think about and AI is primed to make it worse and at a more accelerated rate. And we're living under an administration that wants to dismantle the Department of Education. I mean it's galling to me that they're championing this world-changing technology and at the same time don't want to feed these kids or provide any oversight to ensure the states aren't creating greater disparities but I digress.
Outside of the ethical issues of copyright and sheer theft (again because of the lack of regulation), I struggle with AI because of my love for the craft of writing. I enjoy the time it takes to create and don't find it to be a burden. But that's the art side of it and I think the business side is where people are butting heads. In our conversations as writers, we could be more honest about some of the root of the opposition toward AI being that we romanticize what we do A LOT. And I do think that romanticization gatekeeps. People think if they can't write the next great American novel then they shouldn't write at all. #NotAllWriters but you'd be hard pressed not to find a writer who knows someone one or has had to be around someone who is haughty and/or snobby about writing to the point that they turn their noses up at the advances being made. They don't like self-publishing, they think writing as a field has become layman and too accessible, and they see AI as making this worse. While I think there's validity in the criticism about oversaturating the market and self-publishing opening the door to just anything being published and available to consumers without vetting or proper sourcing, I also see how this circles back to critical thinking.
But my realization upon reading your article, Amy, is that part of my resistance to AI stems from my need for control and aversion to asking for help. I like doing everything. But when considering writing as a business, not an art or a craft but a means of generating income, that's just not possible. I don't want to feed my thoughts and ideas into a system that's learning from everyone, so I'm aware that if AI was just contained to my little bubble that I might be more on board. However, I do know that my resistance isn't going to change the fact that this tech isn't going anywhere and that its application in this field can only be helped by people learning it and teaching others how to use the tech as ethically as they can. So I appreciate what you're setting out to do, Amy. We may not always agree about its use, but I'm willing to keep an open mind and learn. Especially when I think about organization and online research now that Google has a self-inflicted wound from the (Un)Helpful Content Update of 2023 rip the world's greatest functional search engine.
In closing, I do want to acknowledge though that the comparisons folks draw about AI from previous advancements don't quite work. The pen to typewriter still took time. As did typewriter to computer and cellphone to smartphone. AI is a different beast, mainly because it's free and it's available everywhere. My international friends always bring up just how inundated Americans are with commercials. The marketing here is ubiquitous and relentless. Previous advancements did not have this level of sell.
We're talking about tech giants who've poured billions into these tools and they're looking for a return on investment and they don't really care how flooding the market will change society as we know it especially if it means they have unfettered access to our data to continue to sell us things or sell that data to have third-parties sell to us instead. But you're right, we're not ostriches; we can't put our heads in the sand. And, while I have been a curmudgeon about this, I am actually gratified that you're going to be talking about AI in this space, Amy. For me, it's the right environment to learn more, so I'm looking forward to your posts and your perspective.
Before I got to the end of this post where you disclose that you used AI to write it, I knew that you had. I interact with a lot of AI generated writing in a part of my work, and once you know what to look for it’s very obvious. My biggest gripe with artificial intelligence is the blatant theft of intellectual property and the fact that “cleaning it up” still reads as the same bland text that is ubiquitous in all the writing that ppl refer to as “grunt work”. I realise it’s here to stay but ffs if you expect ppl to read your work at least put a little more effort into making that an enjoyable experience.
Totally understand if it's not your cup of tea. Luckily you know where the unsubscribe button is :) Have a great Fourth of July!
Lazy. Fuck AI.
Thanks Bill, I appreciate it!