GRATITUDE
What Doesn’t Kill You, Makes You Stronger
I’m beginning to like what I didn’t — A.I.
On January 27, Scott Lamb posted an article titled How We’re Approaching AI-Generated Writing On Medium. The piece lightly mentioned the giant platform’s efforts toward publication-level guidelines. It was what writers were eagerly waiting to hear albeit not much was deliberated on the matter.
It was understandable. At the time, ChatGPT was a nascent excitement and Medium itself was working on several beta testing namely on curation and published-author verification. Questions aplenty but hands were full.
Suddenly all things AI was darting back and forth at rapid speed. The hamster wheel felt like it started spinning faster. There were nervous talks of writers becoming obsolete. There was pressure to compete with the production rate of writing bots. That would be impossible. We’re talking about man versus machine. There was the question of originality, writer’s integrity and quality gatekeeping.
The truth was this: We were stressing ourselves up with a lot that we didn’t know.
The platform became saturated with discussions about AI. Clearly, there was a lot of fear about the role of writers being taken away, about talent being overlooked. There were many angry folks anxious about its teething problems.
Added to the choir, there was the ongoing issue of stories distribution, stats seeing inflection points. Not just writers’ income concave up and concave down, but so were the state of their emotions.
I find the buzzing town hall discussions educational. While some authors offered intelligent viewpoints, many were emotional, some lacked professionalism and proceeded with the best line of defense at the tip of their tongue — ad hominem attacks on whoever they could name — while their supporters waved their pompoms.
I took liberty to spend more time digging into publications that offered insights to artificial intelligence. I won’t lie, AI isn’t and won’t be everyone’s cup of tea. But that’s not the issue. I figured, better we know about the devil himself than to condemn an innocent bystander (or a few).
To feel anxious is acceptable. We should, however, offer support where it’s needed. In this case, to help oneself by digging deeper into the abyss of the unfamiliar.
A study by Goldman Sachs (as reported by The Economist) estimated that two-thirds of jobs in America and Europe could be affected by generative artificial-intelligence (AI). It is estimated that 7% of workers will lose their jobs. Tech giants are already downsizing, with a series of more retrenchment to come. It’s like the best and worst time in digi-technology.
Also in the news, in the first week of April more than 1,100 people associated with the AI industry signed a petition calling for a six-month pause in developing systems such as ChatGPT so that discussions can take place on better oversight. This includes Elon Musk and Steve Wozniak.
I think we can safely say that we have passed the point of asking Who asked for these things? AI is here, and it is here to stay. But AI has always been among us. That much we need to be reminded.
In Lamb’s article I left a comment which surprisingly generated a lot of support (via claps). I wasn’t expecting that. Perhaps it was because Kristina God had also mentioned the comment in one of her pieces around the same time. My comment questioned Medium’s efforts in mitigating fake writing. I guess it was something on everyone’s mind.
I’m not trying to stab here but I can’t help but feel the reason Medium is even considering AI supported writing is because … the team can’t tell? A mechanism needs to be in place to separate the wheat from the chaff and to reject such artificial practice. Writing integrity is something we have been taught in all writing classes. Hence it should be practiced here vehemently being a writing platform that prides in quality, knowledge and human experiences. There needs to be a stand and a strong one that shows Medium is above and in control of what will otherwise be a chaotic mess if not mitigated. Come on, Medium.
It garnered 696 claps and 3 replies. Many thanks again to Daniel Bitencourt and Bradan Writes Stories for your meaningful support.
The third reply came much later (14 days ago) by Hein V and his comment opened my third eye. Hein wrote:
Hey Natasha. A computer does not do the writing, you are guiding the AI every step of the way if you need high-quality natural content. There is no automated writing, it needs a lot of input, steering, guidance, adjustments, fact-checking, corrections, etc. etc. The best AI tools do not copy and plagiarize, and on top of that it also does plagiarism checks as an additional service. If this was the case, then all conventional writers must be copying as they get their info from existing web articles, videos, etc. anyway. Besides, AI writing is the future, as we already use AI in a lot of things on computers, phones, and in life in general. Let’s embrace it rather than trying to fight the inevitable.
I replied to Hein V appreciating two things: how he kindly and gently explained to me about the parameters we are dealing with regarding AI and writing, followed by the gentle nudge at the end “ Let’s embrace it rather than trying to fight the inevitable.”
I replied to Hein:
Hi Hein, thank you so much for your clear input. That helps a lot actually. I do agree we need to embrace AI and in certain areas like medical science, it saves lives. It helps with comprehension like the one you provided to allay fear of the unknown. Here’s to more clarity towards better understanding and to improved ecosystems.
Hein replied:
Thanks a lot for your motivational and positive response. It helps a lot. I think the perspective of people will change once more people get familiar with and use AI more in their daily lives. It is a breakthrough that will surely enhance our conventional abilities… And we have to stay up to date or we will be left behind.
Why am I highlighting this? Kindness. Simple as that. In the sharing of info to allay one’s lack of knowing. Thanks to Hein’s feedback, I went back to my laptop and smartphone and took a good look at them. I tried to itemize all the AI functions that have assisted me all these while.
I realized I could not have completed my doctorate courses and exams without Google reading definitions and facts to me when I was too tired to look at the screen. I used to have my audio book read to me while I was on my train rides. Google calendar arranged all appointments. I cannot begin with all the countless alerts I receive from headlines to deadlines to reminders.
AI is more than algorithms. It’s powerful syntheses. My online business depends on data for insights and predictive analytics. That’s how I was able to create eight fashion collections and raise steady incremental profit in 12 months. The automation of data allows my assistant to answer my weekly questions from customer ratings, customer demo and acquisition, to sizing within seconds. The margin for human error, so far, is close to none.
It helps me to understand what my customers need and where to pivot. It lightens the burden of my team with inventory and stock checks.
Where writing is concerned, inspired by the comment, I studied my Tools function on my Google Doc and started to use Voice Typing. I noticed that some words were unclear because of my pronunciation. I am Asian and my Voice Type function is clearly Non-Asian! I’ve had to improve my pronunciation. When I am bored of typing, I read aloud. Writing gets done.
It has made me pause to think.
The field of Artificial Intelligence remains a gray area for me to keep chasing knowledge. But I also realized that on Medium, there are many authors in the field, willing to guide us, make it comprehensive, even palatable. Guide us without condescending but with kindness and support. And for that, thank you. In exchange I will commit to learn.
I will admit to things that are Greek to me, just as I am happy to seek answers to questions in the right pockets of Medium (like Predict publication). I find myself fortunate to be among data scientists and IT experts willing to share their experiences.
As the 19th century aphorism by German philosopher Friedrich Nietzsche goes: What doesn’t kill you, makes you stronger.
Indeed, indeed, indeed. I think I may like the new world.
