Your coda is what I've been circling around -- how easy it is for people to say "it can't change", what a failure of imagination that is. Thanks for writing this, for making space for grief, and for continuing to imagine the possibilities.
In fact, I'm thinking of embracing any typos readers find in my stories with the line, "Yes, I did that on purpose so you would know it wasn't written by AI, it was written by a human being!"
“I grieve that anyone would think that anything is inevitable. Anything at all.” This resonates. That defeatist mindset is so limiting in all the ways. If anything is inevitable then anything is impossible too and I refuse to believe in impossible. Because possibility is what even allowed for that dream of generative AI to become a reality. I grieve with you.
I feel you, Allison. The machine is upon us and will devour us IF we allow it. I recently had the experience of having to deal with the customer service of a company from which I'd ordered a product that turned out to be different than was advertised on their website. So opaque and unhelpful were the email replies by various customer service reps I dealt with that I asked the last one if he was an AI Chatbot. "He" replied no. But given the formulaic responses to very straightforward questions I asked left no doubt in my mind that these emails AT THE VERY LEAST contained AI generated language even if, and that is a big "IF", the reps were actual humans. In short, the company's policy was that they would only provide a refund if it was clearly their fault! And, of course, THEY were the sole arbiters of whether they were at fault. Because I kept persisting I eventually got a 70% refund on the price of the product itself, which represented a little more than HALF the cost after factoring in the additional cost of S&H on my original order. I am not a Luddite or anti-tech, but I am alarmed at the glibness of those who say all this is "inevitable" and who drool naively at all the ways AI will purportedly save us time and money. But it will do so primarily for those large corporate and government entities who will use it for their own profit or to maintain their hegemony. Historically, technological advances have been two-edged swords that generally serve to uphold the interests of the powerful, those at the top of the food chain. I try to remain positive about the future because I have children and grandchildren but it takes a LOT of energy to do so. I had recently come across an article about how the use of AI diminishes the neural activity in the brains of its users. That didn't surprise me one bit. Unfortunately I could not find that particular one. But I did find a similar one which puts a spin that at least offers a glimmer of hope for those who engage their brains to think critically!
"I am not a Luddite or anti-tech, but I am alarmed at the glibness of those who say all this is "inevitable" and who drool naively at all the ways AI will purportedly save us time and money. But it will do so primarily for those large corporate and government entities who will use it for their own profit or to maintain their hegemony. Historically, technological advances have been two-edged swords that generally serve to uphold the interests of the powerful, those at the top of the food chain."
Yes, yes to all of this. Thank you for taking the time to read and add your thoughtful comments, Larissa. I couldn't agree more.
I can remember when (back when) gmail and the phone started making suggestions for my sentences or replies. At first I laughed at the possibility that the software would know what i want to say. And I wouldn't say it like that. Geez!
But the IT guy spouse explained about machine learning and how people do have some common ways to respond to invitations, etc. Regular, often repeated conversations, back and forth questions and answers.
Ohhhhhhh.
And then, when in a hurry, I started clicking the suggested replies.
So, it began to get easy, quick, and emails seemed to be multiplying in the inbox, so it was a time-saver.
Yikes!!
Thanks for the tips on how to untangle from the machine!
Shannon, I have definitely been guilty of clicking the suggested replies in my gmail responses when it calls for a quick reply like "thanks for the suggestion" or "See you then." And I do agree that's quite a time saver - and for someone whose hands and arms are prone to overuse injury, I am thankful for those shortcuts. But that's about as far as I'll go when it comes to using technology in my writing.
When it comes to writing essays, marketing materials or an email that's longer than one sentence -- it's all human, for better or worse ;)
"Untangle from the machine" is such a great phrase, by the way. I bet it's a Shannon original! :)
Let me grieve! Yes, me too, I'm with you, friend. The option to opt out that comes with threats that we will be made invisible! The speed at which it's infiltrating feels like an important piece of it, too. (The image of the ivy!) It's the kind of speed that leads to loss we can't calculate until we've already moved on to the next thing. I keep finding myself feeling like an ancient cranky person. I appreciate that you named this word grief. It feels right.
Your coda is what I've been circling around -- how easy it is for people to say "it can't change", what a failure of imagination that is. Thanks for writing this, for making space for grief, and for continuing to imagine the possibilities.
Thanks for reading it. I'm going to try to keep imagining as best I can.
I agree with you completely, Allison!
In fact, I'm thinking of embracing any typos readers find in my stories with the line, "Yes, I did that on purpose so you would know it wasn't written by AI, it was written by a human being!"
I love that idea, Kristin!
This is clever, Kristin! Solidarity, fellow writer.
“I grieve that anyone would think that anything is inevitable. Anything at all.” This resonates. That defeatist mindset is so limiting in all the ways. If anything is inevitable then anything is impossible too and I refuse to believe in impossible. Because possibility is what even allowed for that dream of generative AI to become a reality. I grieve with you.
This is so true, Holly. Thank you for your grief. I feel less alone knowing that I am not the only one.
I feel you, Allison. The machine is upon us and will devour us IF we allow it. I recently had the experience of having to deal with the customer service of a company from which I'd ordered a product that turned out to be different than was advertised on their website. So opaque and unhelpful were the email replies by various customer service reps I dealt with that I asked the last one if he was an AI Chatbot. "He" replied no. But given the formulaic responses to very straightforward questions I asked left no doubt in my mind that these emails AT THE VERY LEAST contained AI generated language even if, and that is a big "IF", the reps were actual humans. In short, the company's policy was that they would only provide a refund if it was clearly their fault! And, of course, THEY were the sole arbiters of whether they were at fault. Because I kept persisting I eventually got a 70% refund on the price of the product itself, which represented a little more than HALF the cost after factoring in the additional cost of S&H on my original order. I am not a Luddite or anti-tech, but I am alarmed at the glibness of those who say all this is "inevitable" and who drool naively at all the ways AI will purportedly save us time and money. But it will do so primarily for those large corporate and government entities who will use it for their own profit or to maintain their hegemony. Historically, technological advances have been two-edged swords that generally serve to uphold the interests of the powerful, those at the top of the food chain. I try to remain positive about the future because I have children and grandchildren but it takes a LOT of energy to do so. I had recently come across an article about how the use of AI diminishes the neural activity in the brains of its users. That didn't surprise me one bit. Unfortunately I could not find that particular one. But I did find a similar one which puts a spin that at least offers a glimmer of hope for those who engage their brains to think critically!
https://www.techradar.com/computing/artificial-intelligence/new-research-says-using-ai-reduces-brain-activity-but-does-that-mean-its-making-us-dumber
"I am not a Luddite or anti-tech, but I am alarmed at the glibness of those who say all this is "inevitable" and who drool naively at all the ways AI will purportedly save us time and money. But it will do so primarily for those large corporate and government entities who will use it for their own profit or to maintain their hegemony. Historically, technological advances have been two-edged swords that generally serve to uphold the interests of the powerful, those at the top of the food chain."
Yes, yes to all of this. Thank you for taking the time to read and add your thoughtful comments, Larissa. I couldn't agree more.
Yes to all of this!!!
Solidarity!
Excellent reminder and reflection, Allison!
Thanks!
I can remember when (back when) gmail and the phone started making suggestions for my sentences or replies. At first I laughed at the possibility that the software would know what i want to say. And I wouldn't say it like that. Geez!
But the IT guy spouse explained about machine learning and how people do have some common ways to respond to invitations, etc. Regular, often repeated conversations, back and forth questions and answers.
Ohhhhhhh.
And then, when in a hurry, I started clicking the suggested replies.
So, it began to get easy, quick, and emails seemed to be multiplying in the inbox, so it was a time-saver.
Yikes!!
Thanks for the tips on how to untangle from the machine!
Shannon, I have definitely been guilty of clicking the suggested replies in my gmail responses when it calls for a quick reply like "thanks for the suggestion" or "See you then." And I do agree that's quite a time saver - and for someone whose hands and arms are prone to overuse injury, I am thankful for those shortcuts. But that's about as far as I'll go when it comes to using technology in my writing.
When it comes to writing essays, marketing materials or an email that's longer than one sentence -- it's all human, for better or worse ;)
"Untangle from the machine" is such a great phrase, by the way. I bet it's a Shannon original! :)
Let me grieve! Yes, me too, I'm with you, friend. The option to opt out that comes with threats that we will be made invisible! The speed at which it's infiltrating feels like an important piece of it, too. (The image of the ivy!) It's the kind of speed that leads to loss we can't calculate until we've already moved on to the next thing. I keep finding myself feeling like an ancient cranky person. I appreciate that you named this word grief. It feels right.