DISPLACED
I Guess I’m an AI Hypocrite
Are you?
When the Jacquard loom began threatening the livelihoods of people weaving cloth in their homes or in workshops, those people became angry. We know them today as the Luddites, and often use that word to refer to people who do not like technological change.
I wonder, though, if the day after a midnight raid, did any of those people think about the cloth they saw in the factory they destroyed? Did they marvel at the intricate patterns that could be produced so quickly and inexpensively? Did any shame-filled Luddite later secretly buy some of that cloth?
See, here’s the thing. I’ve earned money from writing for more than forty years. It was never my main income, but it has always been a nice side gig. I feel threatened by AI, angered by its presence on Medium, and fearful that my pleasant sideline may be ending.
Yet when I want a quick answer to a question I might need, I go to ChatGPT and ask. I asked ChatGPT about the Luddites as I started my first paragraph here. Until quite recently, I would have googled that and might have found some Medium author writing about it.
My point is that an article written by AI that popped up in a search might be exactly what I wanted. That’s the hypocrisy.
What a hypocrite! Here I am, justifying using AI for my own research and bemoaning its presence on Medium!
Are you a hypocrite too?
