Stop Using AI- Write Like You Mean It
Within the last two weeks, the chip-maker Nvidia, surpassed Microsoft in being the most valuable company. *
If you’re old like me, then you know the decades long battle between Microsoft and Apple over dominance in the market. They each go through surges on dominance and with one over the other. A few weeks ago, a third party entered the chat and changed the game. Nvidia is now the most valuable company in the world. *
If you’re like me, when I first heard that little bit of news your first question was, What is Nvidia? Well, I asked and researched and discovered that Nvidia is a company that makes chips. Not chips you buy in a grocery store and snack on, although, I would love to have stock in those companies. No, these are technology chips. Nvidia’s chips are used a lot in AI.
“AI today looks less like what the Jetsons envisioned and a lot more like taking humanity out of arts”
As you might be able to tell from the title of this post, I am not a huge fan of AI. In fact, I dedicated an entire unit to AI and the issues with it last school year with my English classes.
I’m a millennial, I grew up on shows like The Flintstones and the Jetsons. The Jetsons made me believe that we would have flying cars and household robots. The Jetsons showed a future world where robots did the things that you didn’t need humans for. Robots helped you get dressed every day. It’s helpful when you wear the same outfits every day like they did on the Jetsons. Rosie the robot was a maid who handled the household chores.
However, AI today looks less like what the Jetsons envisioned and a lot more like taking humanity out of arts. I’m aware that there are robot vacuums but I’m still waiting for the robot that can do my laundry. Today, AI is used more for writing and art creation than for things that actually make life easier.
I cannot count how many times I have seen people advise and explain how using AI like ChatGPT is the way to go for business growth. I have heard story after story of people using AI to write technical manuals, education materials, and the like and then selling it for a profit. I’ve seen indie authors use AI for covers, fan art, or even graphics to help promote their book. Today, I cannot use a search function on google, Instagram, or Facebook without AI getting in the way, trying to “help.” It doesn’t take long to figure out that AI can get the information wrong and you still have to dig deeper and research more.
It’s mind boggling to me how as a society we have gone through internet fear and hesitancy to even use it, much less believe what we saw on it—to complete faith and trust in it.
The internet allows us to connect with anybody almost anywhere and that is a good thing. However, the very reason society was resistant about the internet in the 90’s remains true. Anybody can post anything online.
Since the 90’s though, reputable businesses, news outlets, and companies have gotten online which has put some legitimacy behind the internet. The fact is you can go online and find factual information and find connection with other people. The fact is you can work online and manage businesses online. Hello, I am managing my website online and I also manage most of my writing online because I use a cloud-based writing program so I can access it from all my devices. All these things are true. You can do these things. It doesn’t change the fact that I’m nobody special and able to do this and since this is my website, I can put whatever I want on it.
Again, anybody can put anything on the internet.
Yet, since the early 90’s when society thought those who posted online were weirdos, the internet has become almost as vital as electricity. We have at least two generations that have been online and using the internet as if it was something that nobody was every wary of.
Not saying we need to go back to the days of being wary of the internet, I’m just saying that we need to stop treating the internet like it is the all knowing and all powerful being that culture is trying to make it out to be. There are a lot of good things about the internet but there are also bad parts of the internet. The internet is still a place where anybody can write anything.
So where does AI fit in? Well, AI is the mammoth that is being carted around like something that will make life easier but I actually think it will make us stupider. I’ve already seen it. I’ve also seen the flaws in AI, because AI uses the internet to gather its information to put it together. The very same internet where anybody can post anything.
People use AI for emails and social media captions. AI is being used by teachers to create lessons and units to teach students. AI is being used to create arts and graphics and illustrations. Do we really lack basic writing skills to write an email or a social media caption? Social media started out as a way to connect but it has turned into a place for formulas, science, and trying to get people to do something all while they scroll and don’t really do anything. AI captions will only help that problem. AI can write within a template or a formula, but will it actually inspire somebody?
Now, I know there are creators out there that have used AI for captions and have found success because they have gotten the email sign ups or the sales. My question would be is AI ethical to use in business when you are your brand and people are thinking that your social media channels are you speaking in your own words? Just because it has worked or has had success doesn’t mean it should be used to advocated for.
The thing about AI is that people know, in their gut, when something wasn’t written by a human. Things sound off or don’t resonate the way it does when a person is the one behind the words. I had students try to use AI for their stories and their papers and I figured out within the first or second sentence. AI and humans use English differently. Plus, AI can’t use emotions it doesn’t have.
Decades ago, writers had to fight to convince people that writing was important. Writers had to fight to prove that writing was a craft and not something anybody could do. There were writers who proved that there could be writing above a basic level and leave the reader saying, wow. Writers used to fight to convince society that writing could be a job, that storytelling wasn’t a joke.
Now, we’re so used to storytelling that it comes in seventeen formats and we have it condensed to eleven seconds before we want the next story. Don’t worry though, AI is here to make it all easier.
It’s great that we have all these different ways to tell stories. We have books, we have blogs. We have movies and TV shows. We have social media and YouTube. The moment we start to introduce AI to these things (which has already happened), is the moment we take away the power of storytelling. Can a story be a story if AI makes it up? How much gets plagiarized from other sources?
Fitzgerald would be weeping if he were alive today to see this. I’m sure Shakespeare would be too. Many prolific writers who are no more would be appalled at the society that has replaced writing with AI and taken the humanity out of a story. A story for another day would be the quality of books and writing these days.
So I’ll leave you with a quote from F. Scott Fitzgerald, who happens to be the author who wrote my favorite classic, The Great Gatsby.
“I don’t want just words. If that’s all you have for me, you’d better go.”
That’s all AI has for us, just words. The words do not mean anything when it is written by AI.
*Obviously, as markets go, that has changed. While this was written shortly after the news broke that Nvidia was the most valuable company, markets and value changes. Regardless of where Nvidia stands, the top one or number three, AI is something we need to talk about.
Photo by Igor Omilaev on Unsplash