When It Comes to A.I. Content, Here’s Why Clay Pigeon ‘Cheerfully Refuses’
I have developed a reputation (among my very limited circle of people) as someone who is anti-AI. I get it. It makes sense. I would certainly not call myself pro-AI.
I’m wary of anyone who brags about how much they use AI, especially in marketing. It feels like an old man bragging about how much he uses Viagra.
Sometimes people ask: Why do I care so much about AI? Why does it matter so much to me?
For me, it comes down to a rather large question: What is the point of life?
How you answer that question will likely have an impact on how you feel about AI.
While my personal answer to that question is directly linked to my faith, I am going to give my non-spiritual answer: I believe the point of life—the secret to happiness, joy, fulfillment, etc.— is to be your best self and then influence the earth in whatever way your best self sees to be the best thing to do.
With that in mind, if the goal of humankind is to be our best selves, then AI is cutting us off at the knees by positioning itself as a crutch. Actually, it’s even worse than a crutch, because a crutch requires you to learn to walk on your own before you can use it (and it’s also intended to be temporary).
A friend of mine is a college professor and I love hearing about her adventures in trying to separate AI from human writing. It’s exhausting and near impossible, and her stories are always good for a laugh.
But there’s a sad truth to it, as well: Many of her students appear to be unable to write on their own anymore. They don’t trust their own skills or instincts. While they’ve become fluent in Chat-GPT prompts, they’ve forgotten how to produce anything of value on their own.
And that’s where the problem lies. AI is a crutch, and when we integrate it into our daily lives, we forget how to walk without it.
It’s not something that makes us better, as so many talking heads claim. It actually makes us worse because it makes us dependent.
At the core, I believe AI is setting us up for a sad future where humanity is not developing itself to its fullest.
At this point, I turn the questions around and ask others, “What do you like about AI? How do you envision it making your life better?”
The answers are typically about making processes more efficient. “You can do more faster.” “If you don’t use AI, then you’re going to get left behind.”
That may be true. But if the future is built on soulless, AI-driven content then, to quote Leif Enger, “I cheerfully refuse.”
