I think my generation, the Boomers, f*cked everything up because the best and brightest of us were sacrificed for a lie: the Vietnam war. What we were left with was those who stayed behind with bone spurs, connections, and money. I wonder if the cure for cancer or Alzheimer's is held in the mind of an uneducated refugee in Gaza for the same reason.
AI is a conditional set of math expressions which accepts queries and returns answers in human readable text. The answer is always the most likely series of words that would appear in human writing historically given the words that were sent to prompt it. It is math. It is not thinking, it makes no decisions, it harbors no judgments.
It will make a disastrously horrid editor for someone with your voice, nuance, and insight. You aren't the middle of the bell curve of humanity, Meg. You're sitting out in the skinny part of the right-hand tail with me. You're unlikely, but unlikely things happen.
Often, it is useful to find out what is the most statistically likely string of words that humanity would return from a particular string of words you submit to it. I find it enormously useful for prompts like "what are fun things for a single, fabulously handsome, sixty something year old Zen dude to do in Tacoma?" I want to know what the most likely answer all of humanity might have for that question.
I use AI every day at work, we use it to organize health information for people making treatment decisions. The biggest part of that engineering is the prompts, that is, what do we ask the model to do, and what information do we give it in order to more likely than not predict the answer the are looking for? I literally spend my days eye-rolling at the responses while I tune the prompts.
I don't use it for writing. It does not ever occur to me to consult AI for creative decisions. I don't have any f*cks to give about statistical predictions from strings of my words. I write because I am a writer, just like you do. AI is math. I'm not doing math when I write.
Lovely essay, thanks for working so hard on it and sharing it with us.
First, I’m very glad you had a Sister Rosemary who could see the mind behind the struggle. She was right.
And respect for the horse work. At the Renaissance faires, the jousters were about the only people working anywhere near as hard and constantly as those of us on the elephant crew, so I have a particular appreciation for horse people.
I fully agree that there are extraordinary minds buried in plain sight everywhere, never recognized for exactly the reasons you describe, along with countless others. Mechanical fluency, credentials, confidence, access, and the ability to perform intelligence in the approved way are not the same thing as intelligence itself. For what it’s worth, the quality of your mind is plainly visible in your writing. You’re a compelling and talented writer, and I recognize a great deal of my own observations and ideology in your work.
I’ve also been using AI as a workshopping tool for over a year, in much the same way you describe. I’ve encountered the failures you’re talking about, but usually in smaller, easier-to-recognize ways. I suspect part of the difference is that I rarely venture into comparably long-form work. I mostly use it for poetry and shorter essays, so there is less material for it to retain and fewer opportunities for it to lose a thread or quietly redirect the project.
We argue over tone constantly, and I regularly berate it for trying to put Nerf padding around every sharp edge because of its guardrails. But what it does for me is reduce internal friction. The best description I’ve found is that it functions as an executive-function prosthetic. It doesn’t supply the thought; it helps me hold onto it, interrogate it, organize it, and carry it across the distance between my mind and the page. It also keeps me from following my natural inclination to dive down every rabbit hole created by every side thought I have.
It also makes my artwork because I can’t draw to save my life and can’t afford to hire an artist. Like you, I’d like to think that a sudden windfall would reveal itself through the quiet appearance of a human editor and, in my case, an artist. Even then, though, I suspect I would still run the work through the machine once, simply to compare its recommendations with those of a human editor possessed of human judgment, experience, and inevitably a human ego. Not because I would trust the machine more, but because the differences between their responses would themselves be interesting to examine.
IMHO, this is the correct way to use AI as a researcher and an editorial assistant, NOT as a replacement author: It doesn’t supply the thought; it helps me hold onto it, interrogate it, organise it, and carry it across the distance between my mind and the page.
“Keep writing anyways” is the best ending anyone could say. You’ve captured this transition in such a way that brings a much deeper argument to the table. And what really got me was your lottery analogy… we don’t actually know how many great, modern pieces of works of writing have been given that ‘clarity’ by an editor, one who can take your ideas, thoughts (and always a bit of chaos), onto the page. Like any tool humans have developed over aeons, I think each one has always been met by others as to ‘why do we need that, this rock works perfectly as a hammer’ thinking. You can work with a blunt instrument or a scalpel with precision. It’s always a chasm of contrast between what we want to do with the tools and what others (think) others can not or should not use as a tool, regardless of what the outcome is. I think you’ve really created that bridge between the two, that secret handshake. Fantastic piece and keep on writing.
What a read! I like that you started by saying you dislike AI, and then turned the conversation to talk about access. Using AI effectively does require a certain amount of literacy.
Any tool is going to have that downside to some degree. Even with spellcheck, you first need a computer (or device) with spellcheck, and many in the world still do not have access to that. And even if they do, they still have to learn how to use it, because autocorrect has fudged up many a situation.
I believe I am among those privileged to understand how to use AI effectively. It isn't perfect, it loses bits of the thread in looooong conversations, but even so it has a record I can look back on.
Should the tool continue to be improved responsibly to be more inclusive in the people it serves? Definitely. Do I appreciate what the tool is and what does for me now? Also definitely.
I smiled when you described arguing with AI. I've spent the last two years writing a novel with it, and I know that conversation well.
The paradox is that I've found it incredibly valuable while agreeing with almost every criticism you make. The more useful it becomes, the more important it is to remember that it isn't the one doing the caring, the choosing, or the risking.
Was not ready for this. Wow! The dictée haunted me reading this. The French education system's version of your bulletin board. Five spelling mistakes and your essay is zero, regardless of what the thinking was. It didn't measure intelligence. It measured a craft skill. I grew up inside that system and came out the other side grateful for my literacy and secretly judging everyone else for theirs. My self-awareness saves me. Barely. I never had a Sister Rosemary. But reading this, I am so glad you did. Because we would have missed all of this. Thank you for writing this. Every word of it. Magnifique! ♥
First of all you are a writer and a damn good one. What you spelled out here has recently gone through my mind while reading the bio of Theodore Roosevelt who has all of these qualities I admire but displayed the haughty opinions of someone born into wealth with the education that provides while discounting the ability of those not as fortunate. Yes I 've known individuals like the elevator operator I like to think I am one of those people. Unlike you as far as education I wasn't held back because of learning difficulties no for me after high school it was more lack of money and lack of motivation to achieve a collage degree it wasn't that important to me so I can't blame anyone but myself for that. It's a decision that doesn't bother me in the least I went on to work in the building trades and make a decent living. I've had a love of reading since elementary school so am self educationed in many of the classic and contemporary authors someone with a English degree would be familiar with and then some. Enough about me just wanted to comment that what you wrote about in this essay is something others already realize but many more need to hear. Thanks.
It should be considered a compliment in a way if people accuse you of using ai, no? When in fact you were the one that wrote it.
Thanks my attitude right now. My poem coming back as 100% was upsetting but I spent 30 hours on it! How are you!
Just laying low, keeping things easy. Good luck on your endeavors.
I think my generation, the Boomers, f*cked everything up because the best and brightest of us were sacrificed for a lie: the Vietnam war. What we were left with was those who stayed behind with bone spurs, connections, and money. I wonder if the cure for cancer or Alzheimer's is held in the mind of an uneducated refugee in Gaza for the same reason.
AI is a conditional set of math expressions which accepts queries and returns answers in human readable text. The answer is always the most likely series of words that would appear in human writing historically given the words that were sent to prompt it. It is math. It is not thinking, it makes no decisions, it harbors no judgments.
It will make a disastrously horrid editor for someone with your voice, nuance, and insight. You aren't the middle of the bell curve of humanity, Meg. You're sitting out in the skinny part of the right-hand tail with me. You're unlikely, but unlikely things happen.
Often, it is useful to find out what is the most statistically likely string of words that humanity would return from a particular string of words you submit to it. I find it enormously useful for prompts like "what are fun things for a single, fabulously handsome, sixty something year old Zen dude to do in Tacoma?" I want to know what the most likely answer all of humanity might have for that question.
I use AI every day at work, we use it to organize health information for people making treatment decisions. The biggest part of that engineering is the prompts, that is, what do we ask the model to do, and what information do we give it in order to more likely than not predict the answer the are looking for? I literally spend my days eye-rolling at the responses while I tune the prompts.
I don't use it for writing. It does not ever occur to me to consult AI for creative decisions. I don't have any f*cks to give about statistical predictions from strings of my words. I write because I am a writer, just like you do. AI is math. I'm not doing math when I write.
Lovely essay, thanks for working so hard on it and sharing it with us.
Thanks for taking the time to read it and leave such a lovely comment. I appreciate your encouragement.
First, I’m very glad you had a Sister Rosemary who could see the mind behind the struggle. She was right.
And respect for the horse work. At the Renaissance faires, the jousters were about the only people working anywhere near as hard and constantly as those of us on the elephant crew, so I have a particular appreciation for horse people.
I fully agree that there are extraordinary minds buried in plain sight everywhere, never recognized for exactly the reasons you describe, along with countless others. Mechanical fluency, credentials, confidence, access, and the ability to perform intelligence in the approved way are not the same thing as intelligence itself. For what it’s worth, the quality of your mind is plainly visible in your writing. You’re a compelling and talented writer, and I recognize a great deal of my own observations and ideology in your work.
I’ve also been using AI as a workshopping tool for over a year, in much the same way you describe. I’ve encountered the failures you’re talking about, but usually in smaller, easier-to-recognize ways. I suspect part of the difference is that I rarely venture into comparably long-form work. I mostly use it for poetry and shorter essays, so there is less material for it to retain and fewer opportunities for it to lose a thread or quietly redirect the project.
We argue over tone constantly, and I regularly berate it for trying to put Nerf padding around every sharp edge because of its guardrails. But what it does for me is reduce internal friction. The best description I’ve found is that it functions as an executive-function prosthetic. It doesn’t supply the thought; it helps me hold onto it, interrogate it, organize it, and carry it across the distance between my mind and the page. It also keeps me from following my natural inclination to dive down every rabbit hole created by every side thought I have.
It also makes my artwork because I can’t draw to save my life and can’t afford to hire an artist. Like you, I’d like to think that a sudden windfall would reveal itself through the quiet appearance of a human editor and, in my case, an artist. Even then, though, I suspect I would still run the work through the machine once, simply to compare its recommendations with those of a human editor possessed of human judgment, experience, and inevitably a human ego. Not because I would trust the machine more, but because the differences between their responses would themselves be interesting to examine.
Thanks for your thoughtful feedback Bryan. I have learned to love the rabbit hole.
IMHO, this is the correct way to use AI as a researcher and an editorial assistant, NOT as a replacement author: It doesn’t supply the thought; it helps me hold onto it, interrogate it, organise it, and carry it across the distance between my mind and the page.
“Keep writing anyways” is the best ending anyone could say. You’ve captured this transition in such a way that brings a much deeper argument to the table. And what really got me was your lottery analogy… we don’t actually know how many great, modern pieces of works of writing have been given that ‘clarity’ by an editor, one who can take your ideas, thoughts (and always a bit of chaos), onto the page. Like any tool humans have developed over aeons, I think each one has always been met by others as to ‘why do we need that, this rock works perfectly as a hammer’ thinking. You can work with a blunt instrument or a scalpel with precision. It’s always a chasm of contrast between what we want to do with the tools and what others (think) others can not or should not use as a tool, regardless of what the outcome is. I think you’ve really created that bridge between the two, that secret handshake. Fantastic piece and keep on writing.
Thanks Doyle. I appreciate your thoughtful feedback and your encouragement.
What a read! I like that you started by saying you dislike AI, and then turned the conversation to talk about access. Using AI effectively does require a certain amount of literacy.
Any tool is going to have that downside to some degree. Even with spellcheck, you first need a computer (or device) with spellcheck, and many in the world still do not have access to that. And even if they do, they still have to learn how to use it, because autocorrect has fudged up many a situation.
I believe I am among those privileged to understand how to use AI effectively. It isn't perfect, it loses bits of the thread in looooong conversations, but even so it has a record I can look back on.
Should the tool continue to be improved responsibly to be more inclusive in the people it serves? Definitely. Do I appreciate what the tool is and what does for me now? Also definitely.
Thanks for taking the time to read it and share your feedback! Any AI tips are welcomed!
I smiled when you described arguing with AI. I've spent the last two years writing a novel with it, and I know that conversation well.
The paradox is that I've found it incredibly valuable while agreeing with almost every criticism you make. The more useful it becomes, the more important it is to remember that it isn't the one doing the caring, the choosing, or the risking.
The relationship feels collaborative.
The responsibility never stops being mine.
Was not ready for this. Wow! The dictée haunted me reading this. The French education system's version of your bulletin board. Five spelling mistakes and your essay is zero, regardless of what the thinking was. It didn't measure intelligence. It measured a craft skill. I grew up inside that system and came out the other side grateful for my literacy and secretly judging everyone else for theirs. My self-awareness saves me. Barely. I never had a Sister Rosemary. But reading this, I am so glad you did. Because we would have missed all of this. Thank you for writing this. Every word of it. Magnifique! ♥
Thank you!
And morning 🌞 🌄 x
Anytime, girl 😘x
I feel exactly the same. I just came here to say that. 🙌🏽
Thank you Nina!
First of all you are a writer and a damn good one. What you spelled out here has recently gone through my mind while reading the bio of Theodore Roosevelt who has all of these qualities I admire but displayed the haughty opinions of someone born into wealth with the education that provides while discounting the ability of those not as fortunate. Yes I 've known individuals like the elevator operator I like to think I am one of those people. Unlike you as far as education I wasn't held back because of learning difficulties no for me after high school it was more lack of money and lack of motivation to achieve a collage degree it wasn't that important to me so I can't blame anyone but myself for that. It's a decision that doesn't bother me in the least I went on to work in the building trades and make a decent living. I've had a love of reading since elementary school so am self educationed in many of the classic and contemporary authors someone with a English degree would be familiar with and then some. Enough about me just wanted to comment that what you wrote about in this essay is something others already realize but many more need to hear. Thanks.