AI will give you the PG-13 Version but the world is Rated R
I wanted to write this after having a conversation with a friend regarding my blogging application, writing and AI. This is my own take on the future of AI as a means of writing. If you’re a writer, you’ll be delighted with this read–but that doesn’t mean AI is going to be harmless.
Will it replace writers? Some.
In short, if the writing carries little depth, insight or analysis such as sports writing or gossip type coverage like TMZ–yes AI can replace all of this content, almost right now. However, I think the writers that we seek for their opinion, their thoughts, their humor, their wisdom for history within any given context– it will leave those unscathed, for the foreseeable future. Let me explain why:
AI is effectively an information aggregator. It’s incredibly efficient at accessing information quickly and spitting out an immediate answer. If you’re looking to know all of the temperatures of the largest capital cities as of 9PM, 10 years ago, it will give you the answer in seconds. To do this, it is programmed with its own set of internal protocol or instructions.
Limitations
These instructions, are defined carefully so the average person can’t learn how to create plastic explosives for their neighbors garage, learn how to rob a bank or radicalize with religious affiliations. Likewise, government’s around the world want to ensure that the population is not going gain enough information to see obvious patterns in front of them (theft, corruption, lies, unfinished projects) lest they risk a sort of revolt or uprising. As a result, we can say just like the boundaries are set for a game of football or ice hockey, the boundaries of information are also set when using AI.
As a result, when writers try to perfect their article by relying on this information gathering machine– it quickly becomes greatly limited. Truths about the world, such as dangerous places and people, insider corruption in big industry like pharma, inside jobs, malevolence in government, the true nature of some groups, & lobbies, foreign policy beneficiaries, and general lies we all know to be true–will flat out be rejected. AI is like your grandmother who still believes the world is all prim and proper like it was when she was a girl in the late 40’s.
Of course any attempts at arguing the way of the world will fall flat. It will tell you that it’s an exaggeration, incorrect and overblown. Just the other day I was told that that the US and Israel could never overthrow any leaders in the Middle East and “plant” a puppet for their control–to a programmed machine, that answer isn’t permitted.
Additionally, there is a political bias baked into the cake. It will argue that a country is free, and democratic (which I argue are antagonistic by definition but that’s another article) even though it may legally and functionally be operating like the Soviet Union (Canada comes to mind).
It’s a Matter of Depth
Saying anything that is sarcastic, somewhat derogatory, or unpleasant, yet clever and comical, is automatically disregarded by AI chatbots. However it’s slightly nuanced. Facts about the number of people starving in Sudan will be generated, but any inquiry as to why they are starving is forbidden. Facts as to a country hyper inflating its currency are generated but never who is responsible for the swindle. Facts about crime rates, fatherlessness and poor academic schools are generated but it never strives to provide explanations to this.
In every situation, there’s an illusion that AI will “go there” because it will accept 95% of chats but it’s output will be largely constrained to its set protocol.
Humans are Social Animals
Human writers often utilize historical references, pop-culture, sarcasm, nihilism, comedy, trademarks and so forth that gives it a unique spin that readers gravitate towards.
At it’s core, humans are social animals, we crave connection to others whether it be in person or through various forms of media. If this weren’t true, you wouldn’t have read this far in the article–because on some level, you are connecting with me either to find out how you identify and agree with me or how you disagree. It’s difficult to do this with a chatbot who’s programmed to be our pet.
However, as I covered in this article–the generations are growing up around technology in a new way.
What AI does well now
Having said the above, I can imagine a time when AI does have a creative element such that it becomes indistinguishable from human writing–all it previously requires is enough data inputs from the writer in question and it can sound exactly like that voice.
Right now, AI is fantastic at doing two things
- AI is super at taking prior content that has been written and reorganizing it so that it sounds smooth, concise and tracks perfectly. It’s almost like you provide the pieces to the puzzle and it sorts it according to the colors so you can easily solve the puzzle
- AI is also super at providing factual based content. Dates of events, news events, laws in a jurisdiction, values of something–anything that is black or white, retrieving contractual agreements–if it says yes or no…AI is fantastic at digging this up. I’d be genuinely scared if I were studying in law school right now. This is a great complementary use-case for people who want the news and the values correct for their article.
This makes AI chatbots ideal to complement writing, rather than conquer it.
AI will conquer journalism
Journalists, or as Gerald Celente calls them, press’titutes, is a very shallow, bottom of the barrel field at this point. Often times, the information may be incorrect, the flow of the article may be awfully constructed, exaggerated or spelling mistakes may be done throughout.
Garbage In; Garbage Out
AI will certainly displace these press’titutes, being able to pump out far more efficient packaging of garbage to be brought straight to our eyes and ears. It’s simply more economical to do so
[Notice On The Ball hasn't done this]
AI is only good as the prompt
It’s my understanding that there are entire industries right now working on this very problem. When you text your friend, you may not even realize, but you may use language that is brief, holds numerous assumptions, sequences events in a particular way, utilizes seriousness and humor in the same sentence, etc. Parsing this is something we do automatically–but AI chats are only fed with the literally information you provide to it. In other words, in what we assume to “take for granted” in a question, AI chats will continue to provide an answer. If you say you’re a lawyer, it will not assume that it needs to amend its responses in anyway and shortcut anything.
This only relates to writing in so far that it is used as a tool of uncovering information for an article.
Nice people are…Nice. But their stories suck– Comedian, Bill Burr
If you are interested in writing yourself, without AI writing all of your article, feel free to make a free account on Soapbox! My separate social blogging platform where writers earn Kudos, an in-platform currency for the scores to determine their payouts.
Fundamentally
AI is Positive: The World is Negative
Please watch this funny clip from Family Guy–this is exactly how the prompts in AI are designed–to always remain positive, on your side, and never engage with something it doesn’t have at its disposal.
AI essentially is an exponentiation of “fake news” or at least government-certified news. It will never implicate agencies that are designed to do harm or who have done harm who shred documents or evidence as being guilty because it only derives information that is made available by those very same organizations.
As a result, it will never be able to grapple with information that is real, albeit sensitive, as it concerns the evil-doing from government entities around the world.
This unpleasant reality, whether you stick your head in the sand or not, is something I don’t see changing anytime soon. AI will not replace this appetite for truth and information that truly matters, rather than just makes us feel good. For now, I expect it to greatly complement and expedite great writing by humans.
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