Wanting to be a Writer in a World Circling the AI Drain
A deep spiral on ai
How depressing, I came to the realization that what I want most is to be a writer in a world being consumed by AI. After a disastrous first few years of adulthood, a disappointing and frustrating career in what once was my dream but turned into a nightmare, the death of a dear friend, health scares, and being faced with my own humanity in general, writing became a way of coping. I never shared any of it, I don’t even know if any of it would make sense to even me, let alone anyone else. But it was my way of working things out, and now it feels as though it’s my purpose. I feel satisfied by writing in a way that I never was working in fashion. When AI first made its splash I thought, surely not. Surely people won’t be fooled so easily, lulled into a quiet submission, giving away what little brain power algorithms have left us with. But of course, I was wrong. People are tired, overworked, easily manipulated into giving away vital skills. The promise of not having to write emails for work or think of groceries to buy seems too great for people to resist. I feel honestly heartbroken by the rapid rise of AI. It’s been adopted so quickly with so little questioning and such hefty defence.
I’ve come to the conclusion that everyone deep down is creative, and that’s what makes us most dangerous. And maybe why we are so interested in AI. I’ve never met a child who isn’t inherently creative, that doesn’t have the most bizarre and expansive ideas. But I’ve met so many adults who say, “Oh, I’m not creative at all.” A life of being beat down, told art isn’t important, a silly hobby, leads to un-fostered and untethered creativity. Creativity with no skill or time to express it is a poison. It makes people angry, jealous, bitter, frustrated. Faced with others who have been encouraged to hone a skill or followed a passion, they scoff. Tell artists, musicians, writers, it’s just a hobby, it’s not realistic, it’s worthless, and constantly finding ways to get it for free. But underneath it, I think, is an unresolved feeling that in another world maybe they could have done it, but they didn’t. Working in fashion taught me that, designers get arguably the least respect in a company because everyone thinks deep down, they know best. That they could design too, they just didn’t waste their time learning how to because it doesn’t pay well. I think this is why so many people’s first instinct with AI is to get it to make art, music, write. I don’t think it’s sad that AI is doing art, I think the people who are asking it to make art for them are sad. A symptom of a desperate need to create, without the time or skill. A new way to undervalue artists, to reinforce that art is silly.
I think people working in the creative industries are the ones who have raised the flag on AI because we know what it is to have work undermined, we know what it is to have to work for free. But no one is listening. To be honest I don’t think it will even hit creative work the hardest because the creative world is already pretty crap to work in, yet people persist. The people I think that need the warning most are people who have likely never felt what it’s like to be asked to work for free, to be undervalued. The people who are probably adopting it now with reckless abandon, singing its praises. I don’t know if they could fathom it. Lawyers, accountants, consultants, bankers, the “solid” jobs. But it will come for them too, probably more so because humanity isn’t at the center of those jobs. If anything human error is probably the biggest problem to be solved. And I do think good, meaningful art, music, writing is centered around humanity. There will always be people who want to see real art, human art. People don’t pay huge amounts of money, line up overnight, go to meet and greets, book signings, create Stan accounts just because they like the music, the movie, the book, the art. They go because of the person at the center of it all. So I hope there will always be some need, some interest.
I’ve heard the argument that AI could simply be a tool, and maybe in an ideal world it would be, but we live far from an ideal world. We live in a world where companies will sacrifice people at the first chance they can. We live in a world that already undermines and underpays. That will already require unpaid work just to get into an industry, and then underpay once one is deemed qualified. Where corporations get bailouts, and humans have to figure it out on their own. Every worker’s right (weekends, health and safety rules, maternity leave, holiday, pensions) had to be fought tooth and nail for. And they’re still undermined any chance they can be, people are still made to feel guilty for using them. So faced with a machine that can do it all for a fraction of the cost, they’ll take it over you no questions asked. Maybe it could be a tool, but the regulations on it would need to be heavy and swift. I fear the damage is already being done, with no one stopping it.
I spiral about AI often. How painfully ironic that I realize I want to be a writer when people are seemingly disregarding writing and reading, letting a computer do it for them. But maybe that’s the point, maybe that’s why I feel so emboldened and inspired to want to write. Faced with its potential demise, I realize how important it is, important to me. And if I feel this way, I know others do too.
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Great read!