Artificial Intelligence is logical, and I am not
Why do I believe that AI does not threaten my work as a writer?
I have taught, participated in discussions, written articles, and studied extensively (also because it’s a great curiosity of mine) about AI. It is present in everything, absolutely everything we use that involves a computer (from the microwave at home to the baby monitor we use to watch a sleeping baby), so why all the hype? Why this panic and fear now?
Let’s take a brief detour and talk about the job market, one of the things I’ve been closely observing lately.
You apply for a job, and it’s no longer just sending your resume, maybe with a cover letter, and waiting for an interview invitation. Today, you go through practically a marathon when applying for a job — and sometimes the mental stress, I’m not sure if it’s really worth it, but we don’t live on photosynthesis, so we have to go through these processes to earn our livelihood — so you:
- fill out your details, complete the fields with your academic background,
- explain your entire professional history,
- add some ethnic information,
- take logic tests, English tests, and case studies to prepare, submit, and present in a few days,
- and, believe it or not, submit your blood test and marital status (okay, some companies don’t ask for a blood test YET, but many ask for marital status, and I can’t see the need for this type of information when it’s my technical ability that’s at stake, not the luck of finding a life partner).
And all of this is analyzed by an AI that eliminates those who do not meet some requirements.
How to keep it cool? Technology is already judging me and fitting me into standards to which I don’t even belong, I just had to fill in some fields, and this is the result. Imagine if it can’t remove me from other possibilities.
This was just an example, which I believe is the closest and most painful to the reality of many people.
In my case, as a writer, many people say:
- but you don’t need writers anymore, just put it in Chat GPT
- oh, why do we need proofreaders? Just put it in Bard, and it will proofread it
- translation is a dying field, there are so many apps and websites that translate to another language, and it's easy to copy and paste the text there
These are just a few of the statements that have been circulating.
But they forget about the most important aspects, the personality, the soul of the text, the tone, the voice, and the intonation. AI still can’t do that. Our creativity, our uniqueness, and our wit will take a while to have the 'spice' that only a person behind the text can infuse.
Look at this example below, where I asked the AI to explain what “‘slievene’” means, and it failed. To Irish people, “‘slievene’” is a sneaky person.
I lived in Dublin, which may have a different meaning in another region of the country, but I DOUBT that AI can perform this process of idiomatic localization so well.
We can conclude that:
AI is a tremendous help; I use it as if it is a work assistant. It saves me a lot of time on mechanical tasks.
Can it replace some people? Of course, but since the beginning of time, we have adapted and created new career possibilities for ourselves. I, as a UX writer, could not have imagined 18 years ago that this career would exist and be my current profession. Of course not.
So let’s take a deep breath and use what’s new to our advantage. Look at me talking about AI, and I never imagined I would talk about it one day.
One day at a time, folks; machines still need humans. And while they are also developing and evolving, we are developing, evolving, and learning from other curious and educated people. That exchange, which is so enjoyable, machines still can’t do.
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