Hey friends,
Whenever I open up a draft to write at the day job, an AI icon follows me around, lurking in my peripheral. I don’t acknowledge it, but it acknowledges me. Waiting. Watching. A similar event happens every time I open my email, albeit worse. In my inbox, Gemini is waiting impatiently at the side of my screen.
“Can I summarize this email for you?”
No, I can read. Besides, it’s only 5 sentences.
“Can I suggest a reply?”
No.
“Here. Click one of these!”
NO.
When I hop on social media, there’s always some self-assigned “AI creator” offering to write my next book in 20 minutes or less. All I need to do is word-vomit a prompt into yet another half-baked AI platform (there’s a new one everyday) that probably taps into an API or backend of a more prominent AI platform. There are many offshoots like this masquerading as original and new, though many just rely on Google data.
The world around us wants us so desperately to not chew our words, masking this as “helpfulness” and “efficiency.” But it’s more than wanting to be helpful. It’s desperation, and these tools are infiltrating all aspects of our lives. At times, I can’t help but feel Single White Female-d, especially when I can’t turn them off.
And when we do “accept” the help, when we don’t chew, we choke, cut off our air supply, and die. Writing is thinking, and if a machine does all of our writing for us, what kind of living death are we welcoming into our lives? What kind of husk will we turn into?
Don’t answer that.
The point is, team, we should make a pact. In this pact, we relish our thinking. We take pride in all things that make us human—both the strokes of creative genius that we find ourselves enamored with when we look back on our own work, as well as the blemishes. The typos. That one sentence (or two) that just feels… off. The analogy that doesn’t quite fit, or the incongruent beat that stands out to us in an otherwise incredible work of art.
To be human is to be imperfect, but it’s these choices and sometimes strange components we hand-crafted with our own thoughts, feelings, and ideas that connect us to other creators and readers around us. It’s what makes us fallible, and more importantly, vulnerable.
As tech companies aim to see returns on their very expensive investments by integrating AI tools with more and more aspects of our lives, it’s this vulnerability and humanity that will see us through. Why? Because each decision you make is all your own. It’s informed by every single thing that has ever happened in your life leading up to that decision. It’s all of your dreams, nightmares, mistakes, accomplishments, fascinations, desires, and connections fueling that next sentence or stroke of the brush on canvas. It’s whether you’re feeling contented and well-rested or woke up sore and have yet to drink that first cup of coffee.
These tools aren’t going away. They’ll suck up our water resources and pop-up in the worst places and at the worst times. But we can make a stand. We can place our fingers on our own skin, feel that very real touch, and remember that it took millions of years of evolution to make us the beautiful, intelligent, incredible, imaginative, and powerful humans we are.
Despite what we see on TV or on social media or hear spew forth from a talking head, we are powerful. And this goes back to that pact.
For my part, I will relish my thinking and will opt to use that brain whenever I can. I do and will continue to take pleasure in crafting something from my own mind and fingertips and will commit myself to being honest and vulnerable with you. And I hope for you that you do the same.
The world can be a scary place sometimes. Know that you have a gift. Know that your art is irreplaceable. Know that at the end of the day, there’s someone always rooting for you.
Chew your words. Create your art. Never let fear hold you back from unleashing your dreams and visions on the rest of us.
Did you enjoy reading my adventures to third spaces in-between issues of Because We Can? Books & Boards has officially moved to its own list. Read the most recent Books & Boards issue, where I visit Album Comics, here:
P.S. If you like this newsletter and want to pay it forward, there are four ways to show your support.
Hit the like button, or leave a comment.
Buy a digital copy of MACHINE: A Cybernetic Fairytale on Itch.io or Amazon.
Forward this to a friend with an invitation to sign up: https://scottwaldyn.substack.com/about
Hit the ReStack button, and share with other Substack users.
P.P.S. Here are the latest happenings in my neck of the woods:
I reviewed The Phantom vs. The Red Dragons #1 one-shot by Mad Cave Studios
My YouTube Channel is slowing coming together, housing playlists for both my work at Chronicle Chamber as well as original book reviews.
No AI is ever used in the writing of Because We Can.
Comments
Nothing yet. Say the first thing.
Sign in to join the conversation.