So we’ve been hearing a lot about AI of late, especially as it comes to writing.

Will AI replace the writer?

My short answer is yes. In a field where it is already difficult to make any inroads, I believe that much of what passes as journalism will begin to be AI driven. It’s cheap and efficient and its bland and emotionless style will probably appease many people. Just the facts ma’am, just the facts…

As many have already said, a real person must generate the parameters with which AI writes- so that means that AI can’t act inependently.

Yet.

I had a conversation with my daughter about the whole AI writing thing- they have discussed it in class. She said her Professor said that back when spell check first made an appearance, teachers at all levels were worried. They called it cheating. They didn’t want the kids to use it.

How do you view the worries about spell check in today’s climate?

Can you imagine a world without spell check?

But, we can ask: Has spell check made us lazier? I’m a lousy speller (if you want I can give you a lot of intellectual mumbo jumbo as why I’m a bad speller…) I KNOW that I don’t even try to get the spelling correct because I know that I’m going to get a crazy line under any word that is spelled incorrectly. I even go as far as to put the letters in and hope it gives me the right word option…So, in my little thesis statement spell check has made me lazier.

So will AI make us lazier?

How long till we say five words and AI spits out 750 correctly spelled words using the words only as a parameter?

How long till we say five words and AI spits out 750 grammatically/correctly spelled words in OUR STYLE?

You say that will never happen? We still need people to man the controls?

I’m not a real fan of the current trend to use tech to replace people. I know whenever I speak of self checkout at my local Target, I always get people who respond that they will NEVER use a self check out because it takes away jobs. News Flash- I frequent places which never have people staffing check outs. There are many places that are ENTIRELY self checkout…

What used to be eight people at checkouts is replaced by one person who is a combo of security and fix it person.

So maybe instead of ten journalists, you only need one person coming up with the appropriate words…

Then one instead of twenty…

Then one instead of one hundred…

I guess it will take the partisan angle out of a story…no piece will be done with any slant or bias…

just the facts ma’am, just the facts…

AI- pros and cons:

Discuss:

75 thoughts on “AI and YOU”

  2. I learned we cannot censor, stop or resist these technical advances. There is likely a way to embrace it without abusing it. Sadly, there will be (are) many people who will be (are) using it to cheat or for unsavoury, even illegal activities.

    I’m still on the fence but will keep an open mind as I watch and learn from other people’s experiences. To date I have not used it. But that day is coming.

    Liked by 2 people

    Reply

      1. I flipped out on a friend when she told me she wanted to write a children’s book and would use AI do write it.

        Doesn’t mean AI can’t be useful in other capacities, but in writing, I took it personally. I told her to me er tell me something like this again, it upsets me.

        She later apologized, saying she didn’t really think it through. But, she did, which means others will too.

        Sigh.

        Liked by 4 people

  5. I have tried Mr Microsoft Bing out as far as writing a story, LA with a few prompts from me. Mr Bing came up with the same storyline and has the same level of storytelling as a five-year-old.
    I’m not worried about it as all humans have the ability to think outside the box. I use Grammarly as I’m dyslexic and my spelling is weak, but even Grammarly can get things wrong.

    Liked by 2 people

    Reply

  6. I am very fearful of AI. As to taking the bias out of journalism, that is not going to happen. The software will be programmed to have a bias. If AI is let loose, it can develop its own “ethics” and that is very scary. Even now, if you listen to mainstream media, you will hear 95% of the talking heads using EXACTLY the same phrases. Someone is feeding the bias to them and it becomes the “truth.” Anyone who contradicts the established truth is swiftly cancelled and banned. George Orwell unfortunately was terribly correct in his vision of what our future could hold. We are starting to live it, but like the frog in the pot of water with gradually rising temperature, we may not realize it until it is too late.

    Liked by 1 person

    Reply

  8. You won’t be surprised to hear that I thoroughly enjoyed this post, LA! You use some great examples, simple and yet transformational at the same time. My main concerns about the increasing proliferation of AI, aside from the scary possibility of AI platforms being given access to false info, is how our education systems respond. We need our population to be able to think for themselves, be able to assess whether what they’re reading or hearing is valid or not, and be able to write effectively themselves, regardless of whether an AI bot could do it for them. Most school systems have done away with teaching the multiplication tables because there are calculators and with cursive writing because they think they don’t need it anymore. This has deprived young people of being able to calculate quickly on their own or to read letters from grandparents or budding historians to be able to read old records, not to mention not having their personal signature. I think we want to be careful that we’re not educating our next generation to rely on technology at the expense of our own intellect and common sense. And we’re going to have to find new career paths for LOTS of people!

    Liked by 2 people

    Reply

    1. Yes!! You stated that perfectly! We are not teaching how to think! While spell check is wonderful, for the most part I know how to spell common and not so common words!!there are advantages to AI, but it can’t replace everything we teach!

      Liked by 2 people

      Reply

  9. Full on honesty here: I don’t particularly care. I only give the smallest credibility to about 5% of what I read as it is right now. I just assume that most everything is a jumbled mess of facts and lies, read it all for pure ridiculous entertainment and then move on. The 30 or so years I have left is not going to be wasted on fear or hatred or arms open wide welcoming of AI. I say all this because if I were to allow myself to become distraught over ever innovation, every potential harm to our planet and it’s humans (who clearly are responsible for all the crap) then I wouldn’t function at all but spend those 30 years sitting with abject pain for my grandchildren and what their world will be.

    Liked by 2 people

    Reply

  10. Well I wrote a book about AI using AI and that was very eye-opening. After that I did more research and discovered that AI had not really given me the whole story about AI. I also learned just how much it is already being used and how it is being improved quickly. It has already taken job, but also changed jobs. While I do greatly fear that many people will lose jobs, I see how people will be retrained to work WITH AI rather than AI being used for everything. For now, like you said. AI is getting smarter and smarter. I highly suggest reading the Arc of The Scythe by Neal Shusterman. The one about the Thunderhead is amazingly insightful about AI. I don’t think we can stop it.

    Liked by 1 person

    Reply

  11. I think AI is like the Internet. We didn’t predict the phishing scams and troll farms when the Internet was first public. Innovation brings all sorts of results we can’t predict.

    I recently went for the first time to one of those stores that doesn’t have registers – you just swipe a credit card to go in and then walk out with whatever you take from the shelves. Such a weird experience! More efficient? Maybe — but made me like my neighborhood store where I know all the checkers better. Somewhere there’s a balance between efficiency and humanness and I bet (hope?) we’ll find something like that with AI as well.

    Liked by 1 person

    Reply

  12. Discuss? Rant, more like. These things are developing at such a speed they’ll be doing a huge percentage of jobs before we even know it – or we’ll know it only because of all the people made redundant because of it. I sometimes wonder whether anyone really wants some of these ‘advances’, but they are being developed just because someone is able to, like scientists developing a virus that could potentially kill all life just because they are able to.

    There have been (in my opinion) two inventions that have completely changed the world – the internal combustion engine and the internet. AI will be the third, and we’ll be seeing the effects really soon.

    Liked by 2 people

    Reply

      1. I think most people turn a blind eye just to get through each day as best as possible, can’t change the future…why spend time worrying about it

        Liked by 2 people

  13. I think AI does make things easier for writers. It’s good when you have writer’s block, but it does make you lazy because you end up relying on it more. However, it’s not necessarily a bad thing. People used to wash clothes by hand in the olden days. Now we have washing machines. Is using a washing machine lazy? No! Just like using AI (but not depending on it 100%) will make writing take less time (like writing used to be by feather, then by pen, then by typewriter, then by desktop, then by laptop, then by smartphone, then by voice to text transcription). The less time it takes to write, the more ideas you can get out, the more time you have to read.

    Liked by 1 person

    Reply

  14. I do think AI will replace a lot of writers. I also have heard that students are using it in colleges and it writes in their own voice, so they aren’t caught as cheaters. As for getting lazy, I think the smartphones have made my brain lazier. I used to have all phone numbers memorized and could recall numbers that I hadn’t used for five years! Also, my google maps on my phone make me lazy about learning areas.

    Liked by 2 people

    Reply

    2. Funny enough the only phone number I have memorized today is my wife. I often have look up my own number. But I still remember the phone number I had growing up and my Grandmother’s phone number.

      Liked by 3 people

      Reply

  15. I have talked about this with some others and I feel that AI can be scary to think about but I have trouble seeing it take the place of creative writing. Or maybe I am just being hopeful.
    A blogger friend for fun told AI to write a story about a cow and magical cowbell. He sent it to me saying I have nothing to worry about. LOL!

    Sure AI may be able to put together a story, but its missing the personal touch. The story felt stiff and stilted. I like different authors for their style. The personal touch of a writer is something that I don’t think AI can duplicate!

    Like

    Reply

  16. I think that the art of writing is something AI cannot replace easily. I believe it is like a good recipe-sometimes the mix is in the talent of who is making the recipe. I doubt whether AI can replace writers but it can replace commercial advertisements. However, the nuance of people characteristics, personalities-it takes a human to connect, at least in my book!

    Liked by 1 person

    Reply

  18. Just yesterday my son and I were having a conversation about this. He was saying how artists are upset because AI can produce works that are no match for them and how they are going to stop making a living because of it. Why anyone would prefer artificial over the human connection I can’t understand.

    Liked by 1 person

    Reply

  19. AI will replace *some* writers. Maybe even a lot of writers. It’s down to how much the buying public values unique and authentic voices. And, like much else, there’s not a whole lot I can do about it… except to write, and keep on writing, and celebrating my unique voice and those of other writers as well.

    Liked by 1 person

    Reply

  20. With labour shortages that will likely continue because of the demographic shifts in our population, one day those naysayers will be grateful for the self checkouts.

    The only concern I have with AI is that it isn’t always accurate. That will get better over time but, for now, it’s important for anyone using it to fact check. Some will and others won’t, leading to more fake news and misinformation out there.

    Liked by 1 person

    Reply

      1. Some people will because they’ll see it as a shortcut or easy way out. Personally, I enjoy the writing and creating process so I wouldn’t see value in it. But I blog as a hobby with no illusions of making money at it, so I have a different mindset.

        Liked by 1 person

  21. It’s terrifying to think of authors using AI to write their stories. I don’t care about spell check. That’s not creativity, it’s spelling and not everyone is a great speller. But storytelling is a distinctive skill/talent and should be encouraged. When I was in In college students were encouraged to bring in a little book of words for essay exams. (It had no definitions, just words alphabetized). I used that forever.
    But the day storytelling dies then we have lost our culture and our literature. I can’t even think about such a day.

    Liked by 1 person

    Reply

  22. Oh, it’s definitely going to be a problem with some unintended consequences we haven’t even critically examined.

    Checkout thing: I was in Phoenix and saw something that amazed me and really put things into perspective. There was no person at the checkout at the gas station. It was a little circle thing and you put all of your items on it (you don’t even scan it) and the thing does whatever it does, adds up whatever’s there, and you pay and leave.

    That’s when I was like…oh sh*t. We’re definitely not prepared socially or culturally for the world we’re about to be in.

    Liked by 1 person

    Reply

    1. We’re not prepared at all!! We went to a clothing store and it was same idea…leavecstuff in a basket and it knows! Then after you pay something releases so you can take security tags off. People have no idea what’s coming because it’s out if our comprehension

      Liked by 1 person

      Reply

Leave a Reply

Fill in your details below or click an icon to log in:

Gravatar
WordPress.com Logo

You are commenting using your WordPress.com account. ( Log Out /  Change )

Facebook photo

You are commenting using your Facebook account. ( Log Out /  Change )

Cancel

Connecting to %s