Things AI can do

[Stuart Dren]

AI is very seductive. My experience as a teacher has taught me that there are always certain individuals who always look for an easy way out. It's not that these individuals cannot do these things on their own - indeed it would probably be a more rewarding and soul-gratifying experience - but short cuts seem to appeal to many people. I'm just not sure that there is a short cut to producing art.

These discussions can spiral quickly because parties don't agree on what it is philisophically e.g. you wouldn't consider a word processor, spell checker, art program with stylus and effects, or even camera to be the "easy way out."

The pro AI argument is that it's merely another innocuous tool. The anti-AI position is that it's different this time. I lean towards the latter but instead of taking my own advice here (don't focus on differences, focus on things we agree on) I was being a bit of a ass.

 

[Louanne Learning]

I was being a bit of a ass.

Not at all. It's refreshing to see people stick to principles, despite the opposition.

word processor, spell checker,

That's not the kind of AI I mean. (Although, I think any good writer should have a grasp of grammar!) But writers who run their writing through AI and ask the AI about coherency and character reactions. My goodness, if the writer doesn't know this, they are no writer.

 

[Pyroglyphian]

But writers who run their writing through AI and ask the AI about coherency and character reactions. My goodness, if the writer doesn't know this, they are no writer.

A writer should develop the ability to critique their work; otherwise, we seem at risk of a Dunning–Kruger effect. Perhaps the key word is “develop.” Writers aren’t born fully formed, and the writer who feels they've no more to learn perhaps wasn’t much of a writer in the first place.

AI offers some benefit in that it can provide quick feedback and be prompted toward different interpretations. This adds to its "seductiveness" I think, as you said. It also has some disadvantages in that it's trained on material that reflects the biases of the period, so it may work to reinforce inequity.

 

[Rath Darkblade]

AI is very seductive. My experience as a teacher has taught me that there are always certain individuals who always look for an easy way out. It's not that these individuals cannot do these things on their own - indeed it would probably be a more rewarding and soul-gratifying experience - but short cuts seem to appeal to many people.

Yes, but you don't need AI for that. If there's anything that working in accounts for nearly 20 years taught me, it's that some people -- certainly not everyone, and probably not even most, but some -- will do and say anything, absolutely anything, to avoid paying their bills.

I'm sure Homer (and other people in the hospitality industry) have encountered similar people, who will do and say anything if it would score them a free meal, a comped meal, a free dessert, or anything for free. (Have you met my friend, who claims he's allergic to something when he means that he doesn't like it? Or my other friend, Mr. "There's A Hair In My Soup" when all the waiters and cooks are bald? Etc. Etc.)

Again, that's not to say that everyone is like that. Allergies are very real, and of course they have to be taken seriously ... which is exactly why people who fake allergies just piss me off.

Anyway, people like that have an exaggerated sense of their own importance and a sense of entitlement that makes them the Main Character and everyone else mere Supporting Players. These people change a light bulb is by holding onto it and expecting the universe to revolve around them. Like I said: you don't need AI for that.

What, bitter and cynical? Moi?

I'm just not sure that there is a short cut to producing art.

There isn't. As the story goes, the mathematician Euclid (who invented geometry) was tasked with teaching it to Ptolemy (one of Alexander the Great's generals, who became King of Egypt and founded the Ptolemaic Dynasty).

Ptolemy was impatient with Euclid, and demanded to know if there was a faster and easier way to learn mathematics.

Euclid's famous answer was: "Sire, there is no Royal Road to learning."

The same lesson came nearly 1,900 years later, when the Polish pianist Ignace Jan Paderewski performed for Queen Victoria. She was so enraptured that she declared, "Why, Mr. Paderewski -- you are a genius!"

"Perhaps, Your Majesty," Paderewski replied humbly. "But before that, I was a drudge."

In my roundabout way, I agree. If you want to acquire a skill or deep understanding of something, wealth or social status are irrelevant. You need patience, perseverance, and practice. That's the only way to Carnegie Hall.

 

[Stuart Dren]

I'm sure we're all aware of the vast amount of software or services that are specifically marketed to early aspirant fiction writers. There's an ocean of how-to books as well, whose authors are typically not all that successful themselves. It's like all the specialty jigs sold to woodworkers. Hobbyists always have cash to burn. I also wonder if some of these vendors are jaded enough to view their own customers as marks.

Then you meet someone who is successful in the industry. "Oh I used the word processor that came with my operating system, whatever that's called."

 

[Rigor Mortis]

There was a while a little while ago when the algorhythm flooded all my internet access points with variations of generative AI that would write books for me. I'm getting less of that these days. I am getting other things like hose attachments that turn your garden hose into a superpower washer and, my favourite, some device that will manfully correct the links on my chainsaw. Here's two not unconnected facts: 1. I have never attended A&E with body parts missing after a chainsaw incident. 2. I have never operated a chainsaw.

It is a source of some optimism that the current algorhythm has got me so wrong.

 

[ps102]

It is a source of some optimism that the current algorhythm has got me so wrong.

Once, a friend and I were discussing getting my car's ECU chipped for some performance benefits by a locally famous tuning shop. The next hour, his Xiaomi phone kept bothering him with ads about that very specific shop.

Coincidence? I think not.

I also remember when I first got into writing, I did some research on the matter, and Twitter as well as YouTube kept giving me a lot of ads about creative writing coaches and courses.

The funny thing is, whenever I see an ad about anything, I make it a personal mission to never purchase it.