"I use the AI’s magic autocomplete fumbling like the terrible advice you get from a friend. You don’t take the advice, but upon reflection it was nice to talk to someone else about it, and that inspired new contemplation of the problem."
I love this line and I absolutely will smurf it for use in conversations about AI-assisted code development
There is definitely a lot of excitement, rather than freaking out, in the developer circles I have access to. Their AI-assist expectations are set correctly toward the very basic, low-complexity stuff, so there's nothing to fearmonger about.
Also, discourse on the Internet rarely leaves room for nuance. This is why someone can post the most innocuous thing about liking flowers or spending time with loved ones and it will manage to garner rage. I appreciate you sharing some nuance around AI writing programmes when almost everyone seems to be jumping on the "THING BAD" bandwagon.
That is a good point about nuance and the lack thereof in general on the Internet. I have more concerns around the image AIs making things harder for artists, but the language processing AIs are just so far from where it looks like they are. It reminds me of the Clever Hans story, the horse that could do math. Except he couldn't do math, he just got incredibly good at recognizing the human microexpressions and other body language that indicated the correct behavior that would get him a treat. Not saying that wasn't incredibly perceptive and intelligent of the horse, just that people were painting a lot of incorrect meaning onto their observations. While language and narrative is a bunch of repeating patterns that the AI figured out with enough training and RAM, the point of language and narrative is communication and meaning, and there's just no way to Autocomplete that. But using AI to help humans study and use and exploit those patterns to communicate better and faster? Why not?
Jan 31, 2023·edited Feb 2, 2023Liked by Elnora Fareman
It also smacks of ableism when there is such a push back against something that can benefit anyone with a disability that impacts their capacity to write in "traditional" ways.
It's good, right? I remember seeing a presentation about reframing what we think of as accessibility changes that pointed out how people will mock a pre-foiled potato at a grocery store or pre-chopped fruit and veg, when these minor pre-prepped changes to food can make a massive difference for some folks. Ever since I always pause whenever I feel the impulse to disparage or laugh at anything that seems like an unnecessary change based on my capacity, and consider who might benefit from that change based on their capacity.
First off, who actually likes to chop onions? But seriously, anything that makes life easier should not be scoffed at because of this delusion that life must be hard and any attempt to change that makes us "weak." Especially for folks for whom the shortcuts just bring life to an equivalent difficulty level.
"I use the AI’s magic autocomplete fumbling like the terrible advice you get from a friend. You don’t take the advice, but upon reflection it was nice to talk to someone else about it, and that inspired new contemplation of the problem."
I love this line and I absolutely will smurf it for use in conversations about AI-assisted code development
Please do! I had briefly forgotten about the AI code debate that is also happening. Are developers as freaked out as writers?
There is definitely a lot of excitement, rather than freaking out, in the developer circles I have access to. Their AI-assist expectations are set correctly toward the very basic, low-complexity stuff, so there's nothing to fearmonger about.
That's refreshing! Making some parts of a process easier don't have to turn into a zero sum game.
"The Internet is very excitable."
This is very funny and made me laugh.
Also, discourse on the Internet rarely leaves room for nuance. This is why someone can post the most innocuous thing about liking flowers or spending time with loved ones and it will manage to garner rage. I appreciate you sharing some nuance around AI writing programmes when almost everyone seems to be jumping on the "THING BAD" bandwagon.
That is a good point about nuance and the lack thereof in general on the Internet. I have more concerns around the image AIs making things harder for artists, but the language processing AIs are just so far from where it looks like they are. It reminds me of the Clever Hans story, the horse that could do math. Except he couldn't do math, he just got incredibly good at recognizing the human microexpressions and other body language that indicated the correct behavior that would get him a treat. Not saying that wasn't incredibly perceptive and intelligent of the horse, just that people were painting a lot of incorrect meaning onto their observations. While language and narrative is a bunch of repeating patterns that the AI figured out with enough training and RAM, the point of language and narrative is communication and meaning, and there's just no way to Autocomplete that. But using AI to help humans study and use and exploit those patterns to communicate better and faster? Why not?
It also smacks of ableism when there is such a push back against something that can benefit anyone with a disability that impacts their capacity to write in "traditional" ways.
Absolutely yes. Ooo. I should see if anyone's written about that yet....
Google isn't coming up with a lot. But this one article and example are pretty great:
https://www.newsnationnow.com/business/tech/chatgpt-levels-playing-field-for-people-with-disabilities/
https://me.linkedin.com/posts/noah-ratzan_chatgpt-inclusive-disabilities-activity-7005930844448047104-044w
It's good, right? I remember seeing a presentation about reframing what we think of as accessibility changes that pointed out how people will mock a pre-foiled potato at a grocery store or pre-chopped fruit and veg, when these minor pre-prepped changes to food can make a massive difference for some folks. Ever since I always pause whenever I feel the impulse to disparage or laugh at anything that seems like an unnecessary change based on my capacity, and consider who might benefit from that change based on their capacity.
First off, who actually likes to chop onions? But seriously, anything that makes life easier should not be scoffed at because of this delusion that life must be hard and any attempt to change that makes us "weak." Especially for folks for whom the shortcuts just bring life to an equivalent difficulty level.