Only the Strong will Survive AI

Kermit relaxes

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My best friends in the nineteen nineties were folds of cotton fabric, spools of thread, and a thimble. In my enthusiasm during that quilting phase of my life, I subscribed to a couple of magazines devoted to the craft. One was Quilter's Newsletter Magazine, and I still have all the back issues stored in plastic holders in a cabinet. In my on-going attempt to purge outdated and unnecessary items from my possession, I began thumbing through those magazines, in the hopes of reviewing useful information and extracting pertinent patterns, prior to giving them away or donating to the local library. 

    One article caught my attention. It was published in the April 1996 issue and is titled, Your Computer Quilting Neighborhood: Online Services and the Internet. Written by Betty Rovedo and Jim Burchell, it is not only a history lesson but an eye-opener about how far computer technology has traveled in a short time.

     The article explains the basics of the internet and introduces terminology that we all know today and take for granted, such as: the definition of cyberspace, what it means to go online, how to subscribe to a service, and how to pay for subscriptions. It guides readers to quilt related websites and online quilting communities. Photos are shown of quilts made by groups of quilters across the country, by coordinating activities online. (One was made of heart blocks for a member of a group whose infant daughter lived only three days.) The article's authors included a list of definitions for internet terms such as e-mail, interface, keyword, live chats, modem, and explanations of abbreviations like LOL, BTW, and FAQ.

    While reading this article, I shook my head at how far and fast the cyberworld has catapulted in my lifetime. I grew up and graduated from high school without using a computer, and a few decades later, artificial intelligence is barreling down the tracks, encroaching on everything we do and attempting to take over our lives.

    In full disclosure, I am not fluent in AI, but I recognize that, like many other tools and inventions, AI can be abused and misused, the same way social media is abused and misused. In composing this short piece, I am focusing only on writers, the ones who are gleefully riding on the AI bandwagon, and I have one question: Why?

    Asking AI to help me write would be like asking a friend to take a walk for me. I would miss out on all the glorious scenery of rhododendrons and azaleas, and I would forfeit hearing birds sing and witness them flying alongside me. Certainly, writing is challenging, but writing is also fun. Searching for words and making them fit is as much fun as combing through shapes of a jigsaw puzzle among a thousand shapes of similar colors. Why would a writer seek help from AI in putting words together? This, I do not know. I only know that in our changing world of artificial everything, I am skeptical of shiny, new, freshly published books, and I prefer genuine to artificial. That is one reason I turned to Charles Dickens. He wrote with a pen, and his writing is genuine. As I stroll down the literary path, I will lean more to the classics and mostly to books written before the age of AI going wild.

    Like many other things, AI is a temptation, and some people are susceptible and weak when faced with temptation. We already know that social media is addictive, and AI as a writer's tool could be addictive as well. Resisting temptation is hard for some and next to impossible for others. I wonder if curbing or discontinuing its use is even an option, once a writer gets a taste of AI and enjoys its companionship. 

    Some authors/writers are gung-ho about using AI, maybe not for writing, per se, but to lessen the pressure of other writerly chores. Author/podcaster Joanna Penn frequently touts the advantages of AI for helping writers tackle various tasks other than the actual writing. My argument is that once you start using it and see its capabilities, it will be hard to resist taking it to the next level. Only those who are true, honest writers have the discipline to use AI sparingly or not at all, and to stop short of letting AI string words together for their next book. In this era where AI is advancing like a battalion of soldiers toward its unarmed enemy, only the strong will survive.

    For most quiltmakers, certain standards apply, and one of those standards is to use one hundred percent cotton fabrics. If synthetics are used, the results are not the same, but only a discerning eye can tell the difference. Readers deserve true, honest, bona fide writing; not synthetic. 

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