I do agree with you about AI. I am sure your post was written before the debacle about the "Summer Reading List" snafu that came out this week, which speaks directly to your point! Even if there are rules in place, unless a person chooses by his or her own integrity to abide by them, we will always be chasing after this monster. How many people will care, how many will simply throw up their hands and give up, and at what point will society have irredeemably lost the battle? I hope and pray enough people will care enough that we won't!
Yes! I heard about that book list debacle! I can see how AI can be helpful in many contexts. A friend of mine told me it's fantastic for writing code—it gets him 80% of the way through a coding task. Another gal told me she asked AI to write her a budgeting plan so she'd save enough money each week to afford a vacation this summer. Others have used it to make customized workout plans for themselves. So, I see the time-saving benefits. But, I also have huge concerns.
Absolutely agree. It makes me sick when I hear someone using ai for tasks that could take 20 minutes without. If we are too busy to think for ourselves, we should be cutting back things from our overbooked schedules (that doesn’t involve our brains).
That's the thing—are we too busy to think for ourselves? I've heard of people using AI to tell them what to write in greeting cards or how to ask a girl out on a date. What happens if, in a few years, we stop drafting simple things like texts and emails from scratch...we use AI. Then, who are we communicating with, really???
I am 100% with you regarding AI. Some of that might be because I am exceptionally stubborn about doing things myself. Also, I enjoy being impressed by human effort. Handmade quilts, meals made from scratch, paintings, live music, etc. When I learn that a person used AI to help them draft a novel, I am disappointed and inclined to walk away and read something else. Because, like you said, if we don’t use those skills we will lose them. I use a washing machine and a spell checker like anyone, but washing machines break and spell checkers get things wrong or don’t understand intention (I have to turn the gramma helps off when writing in verse, LOL).
I do know how to do laundry the old fashioned way, thanks in part to some time spent at my husband’s family home in Mexico, where they didn’t have the convenience of modern laundry machines.
I think about the kids' picture books "A New Coat for Anna," "Charlie Needs a New Cloak," and even "Pancakes, Pancakes." They show how ordinary things used to be made from scratch, and I feel quite convicted! In so many ways, I'm dependent upon tools, and am I happier than I would be if I didn't have access to those tools, as you described with your husband's family? I'm not sure.
I think it’s about balance. We are supposed to use tools! Even “primitive” tools make tasks easier and quicker so that we can have time to do other things, perhaps things that we wouldn’t be able to do otherwise. So we should embrace using tools, but be careful about what we let them replace.
And we should be intentional about preserving traditional skills, whether that’s washing laundry when the power goes out or learning how to bind a book yourself. Or…writing a manuscript from start to finish without AI. 😊
That is exactly it. I am not innocent in this matter. I am just as quick as anyone to embrace a flashy, hack or quick fix. But I find myself becoming increasingly wary as I get older (and wiser?) ☺️ UFFLE.
Thanks for the shout out, Michelle! I am so glad to see you talking about this. Even if we don't have answers, I think it's important to be thinking critically before jumping in, as I see so many doing. (Reminds me a lot of the early social media days when we all adopted right away without thinking about what it was doing to our brains and society and especially our kids.) I appreciate your thoughtful reflections.
Yes, I grew up with the mentality that if an "advancement" is available, then we should adopt it so we can, you know, advance. Even so, there was a part of me that pushed back. My husband bought me an iPhone in 2011, and I took it back to the store! I couldn't understand why I would need such a phone. Why would I need the internet when I'm out and about? As I've gotten older, I find myself pushing back harder.
So many thought-provoking questions, Michelle. These days I'm finding myself backing away from technology's steady flow of new options. Maybe because I just plain don't get it. Works for me ...
I agree. I feel more wary, I think, because I've experienced the negative/addicting effects of social media and my smartphone. Because I feel like I've been "betrayed" by technological advances—the cons often outweigh the pros—that I'm now much more of a skeptic.
I agree with all that’s been said and just want to express how encouraged I am to see that Jane Austen’s talent remains untouched by AI! That has been my hope and even expectation through all this: extraordinary human talent is non replicable! Here lies another reason to keep reading our great works that stand the test of time… and now AI.
Yes, the original AI output couldn't copy Austen, and even my patchwork job doesn't have the same feel to it. The AI did a great job of giving me what could certainly pass as historical fiction written by a contemporary author (because its training likely tells it to write to modern tastes). Granted, I'm not a savvy AI prompt architect, and all I asked it to do was "write like you're Jane Austen," and perhaps someone who knows what they're doing with AI could train for a spot-on match, and that's a little nerve-wracking.
Right! The AI wrote more like a contemporary historical novelist than a classic novelist from the time period. I'm guessing this is because the AI gives preference to modern tastes—smooth prose that goes down easy without straining the reader's poor ol' brain.
I do agree with you about AI. I am sure your post was written before the debacle about the "Summer Reading List" snafu that came out this week, which speaks directly to your point! Even if there are rules in place, unless a person chooses by his or her own integrity to abide by them, we will always be chasing after this monster. How many people will care, how many will simply throw up their hands and give up, and at what point will society have irredeemably lost the battle? I hope and pray enough people will care enough that we won't!
Yes! I heard about that book list debacle! I can see how AI can be helpful in many contexts. A friend of mine told me it's fantastic for writing code—it gets him 80% of the way through a coding task. Another gal told me she asked AI to write her a budgeting plan so she'd save enough money each week to afford a vacation this summer. Others have used it to make customized workout plans for themselves. So, I see the time-saving benefits. But, I also have huge concerns.
Absolutely agree. It makes me sick when I hear someone using ai for tasks that could take 20 minutes without. If we are too busy to think for ourselves, we should be cutting back things from our overbooked schedules (that doesn’t involve our brains).
That's the thing—are we too busy to think for ourselves? I've heard of people using AI to tell them what to write in greeting cards or how to ask a girl out on a date. What happens if, in a few years, we stop drafting simple things like texts and emails from scratch...we use AI. Then, who are we communicating with, really???
Yes. Yes. Yes. As we rely more on artificial intelligence we’re only going to become dumber.
I am 100% with you regarding AI. Some of that might be because I am exceptionally stubborn about doing things myself. Also, I enjoy being impressed by human effort. Handmade quilts, meals made from scratch, paintings, live music, etc. When I learn that a person used AI to help them draft a novel, I am disappointed and inclined to walk away and read something else. Because, like you said, if we don’t use those skills we will lose them. I use a washing machine and a spell checker like anyone, but washing machines break and spell checkers get things wrong or don’t understand intention (I have to turn the gramma helps off when writing in verse, LOL).
I do know how to do laundry the old fashioned way, thanks in part to some time spent at my husband’s family home in Mexico, where they didn’t have the convenience of modern laundry machines.
I think about the kids' picture books "A New Coat for Anna," "Charlie Needs a New Cloak," and even "Pancakes, Pancakes." They show how ordinary things used to be made from scratch, and I feel quite convicted! In so many ways, I'm dependent upon tools, and am I happier than I would be if I didn't have access to those tools, as you described with your husband's family? I'm not sure.
I think it’s about balance. We are supposed to use tools! Even “primitive” tools make tasks easier and quicker so that we can have time to do other things, perhaps things that we wouldn’t be able to do otherwise. So we should embrace using tools, but be careful about what we let them replace.
And we should be intentional about preserving traditional skills, whether that’s washing laundry when the power goes out or learning how to bind a book yourself. Or…writing a manuscript from start to finish without AI. 😊
That is exactly it. I am not innocent in this matter. I am just as quick as anyone to embrace a flashy, hack or quick fix. But I find myself becoming increasingly wary as I get older (and wiser?) ☺️ UFFLE.
Thanks for the shout out, Michelle! I am so glad to see you talking about this. Even if we don't have answers, I think it's important to be thinking critically before jumping in, as I see so many doing. (Reminds me a lot of the early social media days when we all adopted right away without thinking about what it was doing to our brains and society and especially our kids.) I appreciate your thoughtful reflections.
Yes, I grew up with the mentality that if an "advancement" is available, then we should adopt it so we can, you know, advance. Even so, there was a part of me that pushed back. My husband bought me an iPhone in 2011, and I took it back to the store! I couldn't understand why I would need such a phone. Why would I need the internet when I'm out and about? As I've gotten older, I find myself pushing back harder.
So many thought-provoking questions, Michelle. These days I'm finding myself backing away from technology's steady flow of new options. Maybe because I just plain don't get it. Works for me ...
I agree. I feel more wary, I think, because I've experienced the negative/addicting effects of social media and my smartphone. Because I feel like I've been "betrayed" by technological advances—the cons often outweigh the pros—that I'm now much more of a skeptic.
I agree with all that’s been said and just want to express how encouraged I am to see that Jane Austen’s talent remains untouched by AI! That has been my hope and even expectation through all this: extraordinary human talent is non replicable! Here lies another reason to keep reading our great works that stand the test of time… and now AI.
Yes, the original AI output couldn't copy Austen, and even my patchwork job doesn't have the same feel to it. The AI did a great job of giving me what could certainly pass as historical fiction written by a contemporary author (because its training likely tells it to write to modern tastes). Granted, I'm not a savvy AI prompt architect, and all I asked it to do was "write like you're Jane Austen," and perhaps someone who knows what they're doing with AI could train for a spot-on match, and that's a little nerve-wracking.
Ah. Well, yes, that is nerve wracking to consider. And discouraging.
I was pretty certain the first was AI after reading “glancing at the puddles still standing in the yard.”
That’s just not a construction that feels Austen-esque.
Right! The AI wrote more like a contemporary historical novelist than a classic novelist from the time period. I'm guessing this is because the AI gives preference to modern tastes—smooth prose that goes down easy without straining the reader's poor ol' brain.
PS: LOVED the sign at the Ice Cream Store! 😁
The family that runs it has a good sense of humor!