The AI Post

I've been dreading writing this for a variety of reasons, but I also accepted that it is inevitable that I say my two cents on this due to how I've decided to navigate this. The specific event that tipped the scale was my partnership with Reality Radio Network (which is where my new show airs).

It's incredible how polarizing AI has proven to be. I feel like most people I encounter are either purists that think using AI is some kind of moral failing while others will call you a Luddite if asking AI isn't your first move. As is the theme for this party, I take a bit more of a middle ground based on my experience.

As a quick note, for purposes of this article, I guess I'm letting the marketers win by calling what our technology currently allows to be considered "AI." It's a stretch of terminology at best and misleading at worst, but that's a different issue plenty of other people have already covered. Also, there's a tendency to allow for discussions on AI to center around generative AI, when that is but a small part of the overall industry. More on that in a bit as well.

If you have a terrible attention span, the broad strokes of my stance are: AI is not a substitute for human attention and the work it creates will lack the personal attention and general je ne sais quoi a human provides. But if that's not how you are using it, it's a resource you can leverage.

My Use

I've used AI applications in various manners in my life, while also being sure to not use it in other contexts. For example, I don't use AI in drafting anything for this blog. Every word you see here (from the generation of the idea to the words on the page) was written from scratch the old fashioned way. Well, sometimes I use a thesaurus and rhyming dictionary, but that's different. However, some of the imagery has been generated. By the same token, my radio show is completely written, recorded, and edited by me, though the station used AI to provide the intro before the show starts.

Pictured: An image I used a long time ago in a post. For bonus points, go find it! (Hint: It's a poem)

Part of this has to do with an understanding as to what AI is actually good at versus what it is terrible at. For example, I do not understand the current trend of using AI models to replace searching for sources when search engines already exist (and don't have the same track record of just... making stuff up). In the same way, AI written text rarely has the same kind of "bite" that a good writer can utilize.

You could argue that generated imagery is "hollow" in the same way. And I'd agree with you. But the reason I used the above image was to accent the words I'd carefully chosen. Indeed, I wanted the image to take a backseat to the other things that were on the page.

Now, I could have an artist work on this site with me, in theory. But that would require a lot more coordination (and funds) than I would be able to provide. The way I draft is non-linear and often comes down to the wire. I wouldn't want to subject a human to that if I can help it. So, when I'm picking out images for the site (which I typically do from a stock photograph site) I don't see it as an issue to grab an image that was AI generated if I feel it fits.

I'm Not Threatened

As someone who writes and does a lot of stuff that could be "replaced" by a good suite of AI tools, I'm often asked if I feel threatened as an artist by new technology. I'm not. And some of you aren't going to get it, and that's okay.

Firstly, if you aren't actively working on some kind of creative venture, you do not fully understand the amount of work that goes into this stuff and you aren't going to appreciate the use cases that new tools allow for. It amazes me how many people have opinions on creative uses of AI that haven't made anything original since that one piece of macaroni art in the first grade.

Secondly, AI is simply too much of a general tool to replace authors that have a strong or critical voice. Sure, there's been a flood of mediocre AI generated content in almost every creative field, but I've never been worried about mediocre works competing with my titles anyway and I don't see a need to start now.

Thirdly, I wasn't exactly getting offers left and right for my new show from stations that don't use AI and I don't think that's a good enough reason to not do my show.