BoM/TWS Message Forum

I feel strange to see that my question about the newspaper was solved so immediately that the whole discussion devolved into an AI discussion, but I think all minds involved just wanted to talk about it despite that.

As of this point, I'm mostly ambivalent towards AI tools. On one hand, I've been having some fun with face-swapping apps, so it's not like I'm fully rejecting them, but on the other hand I'm seriously loathing an ad currently running both on TV and on YouTube that uses AI content and it's so painfully obvious it begs the question "why not leave it to CG artists who could've done a much better job?"

I think Wordsmitty has exposed one thing that's making a lot of people loathe AI - rather than be used as a tool to help you on your job, people are using it to replace doing the job themselves, and then praising the algorithm's capability to replace said work. Reminds me of a company that decided that AI could do the job of a lot of people, so it downsized by firing a lot of their workers, only to start hiring again 6 months later because of losses.

It's in part a matter of fear (we will be replaced, as if it hasn't happened already - this is just touching artistic endeavors such as drawing, painting and, yes, writing) and in part a matter of greed. With automatization and AI, some greedy investors are basically saying "leave everything to machines", and since people want to find someone to blame, they'll blame the tool or the people using the tool or the people building the tool rather than the people replacing other people with the tool for money's sake.

But that doesn't mean it's as easy as that. Students have always found a way to be lazy and complacent, and this is like the ultimate method - just let a computer do my job, literally. This is nothing new, as there has always been online essays ready to use (just add your name!) and later on Wikipedia was banned because it didn't have academic rigor despite having standards (most importantly, the "confirm primary sources with secondary sources" and so on. AI is just the new online essay/ghost writer/Wikipedia - a misused tool.

(Another example? The calculator. Trying to do math on your head or writing it up takes time, and on a test, that can ruin your score. However, when you're on the job, you'll be relying on the calculator all day - if you haven't built a program to do those same calculations for you.)

The bit about students using AI for classes is startling, mostly because it also suggests teachers aren't engaging their students enough. IMO, a good teacher tells you why their class is necessary in your life. If homework sounds tedious, it's because the job you're expected to do is tedious. If you don't understand the mechanics, you won't understand why they're needed. In the same way, if you don't understand the mechanics, you won't understand why the tools to make it easy exist, and the flaws inherent in it. (And just as importantly in modern life, lacking research and interpretation skills leads to poor literacy, which eventually leads to people believing in conspiracy theories supported by "research".) It's hard to expect that kind of rigor from students, but sometimes, that's a reflection of teachers.

But I get why people that like using AI would feel harassed - the tool isn't the problem, and neither is the user, but the latter gets harassed for using the "loathed" tool. Which is wrong, but it's an easy blame.