It’s been the hottest of topics, in the past couple of years, and it recently occurred to me that I’ve never really weighed in on it here, so maybe now is that time. So, here goes…
FUCK AI.
Seriously, I have nothing but contempt for it. Apart from the odd bit of amusing bullshit (i.e. hyper-exaggerated images of Morrissey gorging on cheeseburgers, etc.), I’ve yet to see a meaningful use for it. The end results are usually either disjointed, jarring, disquieting or flat-out horrifying.
It reminds me, in an odd way, of the advent of Twitter. Here was this remarkably efficient and sophisticated means of communication that could disseminate information to a veritable nation of recipients instantaneously, but it ended up being used in the stupidest and shallowest of ways, pandering to the lowest common denominator, and summarily addicting and dumbing down the populace to grim new depths in the process.
On a practical level, while I’m sure AI can be utilized for myriad functions for the betterment of life (like, say, solving problems and curing disease), I personally feel it’s entirely counterintuitive in the realm of creative expression. No one needs it to compose music, write poetry and make art, and, again, the end results are usually off-putting.
A year or two back, my department was looking to hire someone for a new position, and we were fielding loads of applications. At one point, my manager received something and asked me to give it an eyeball. “Her resume is impressive,” she prefaced, “but this cover letter …. I think a robot wrote it.” I scoffed, initially incredulous that anyone would honestly go to that length. But upon reading the thing, I suddenly agreed. While it was ostensibly correct in terms of grammar and punctuation, it was worded in a such a stiltedly oblique manner. I had a very hard time imagining an aspiring twenty-something professional genuinely expressing herself in this way. “Don’t hire that one,” I said, “she clearly didn’t write it.”
I fully realize that the written word is not everyone’s forte. Hell, some might credibly opine that it isn’t mine, either. But, to my mind, resorting to Generative AI sources to convey whatever it is you’re trying to get across is just … well, there’s no other word for it than “cheating.” Do the work. Figure it out. Just because we all have these tools available to us now doesn’t make it right. I realize I probably sound like an octogenarian literature professor admonishing a student for reading the Cliffs Notes summarization of “Pride & Prejudice” instead of Jane Austen’s original magisterial prose, but you’re really only doing yourself a disservice. Use these tools as a crutch, and you’re only making yourself stupider.
I recently stumbled upon this great article on the subject, and I agree with it wholeheartedly.
But, y'know, how do YOU feel about it?
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