Heh heh this brings back a memory from when I worked as an R&D engineer for a medical device company. I often had to write technical data papers that had to be approved by quality control and regulatory people. I OFTEN got into writing “pissing matches” with one particular quality control engineer, Enrico (from Italy actually!😂). Once we went back and forth for over a week over the word I insisted to use when describing what type of sample to take from a piece of vinyl that was used in a product we were developing - the word was swathe. Its typically a word to describe a piece of sewing material (my mom used it all the time). Enrico had never heard of the word and insisted that it was “too local/cultural” of a word for our application. In the end I relented abd replaced “swathe” with “cut sample” throughout my document.😂. I wonder what AI would have chosen?
We need a new word for writing with AI. The word writing is a creative process of a very individualistic nature. No two people of the billions on this planet now or in the past express an idea with the same words, syntax etc.
AI is a revolutionary writing tool but it is the tool not the hand that holds it. That is made of flesh and blood.
I agree, recently I’ve enjoyed using GPT to reply specifically soullessly to emails to work and such. Conversationally I’ve also found it useful to reflect like “shower thoughts” there’s not much other use I’ve found for it, so far…
Among the better voices in AI is Andrew Ng, who created the first Coursera course on Machine Learning and led the Google Brain team. Andrew spoke about appropriate use of AI as a collaborator, something to bounce ideas off of. He spoke about using AI to check drafts and make edit suggestions, so that the iteration is much more like your spell checker on steroids.
And I will admit that finding new directions of thought prompted by an external stimulus (in my case a weekly Sudoku and crossword) really can help. But just asking AI to do it for you is like paying a machine to have sex for you.
If I were to imagine using AI constructively for writing, I could see giving it a draft with a bunch of questions at key points (e.g. "Is this historical note correct?" or "What would this look like?") so that the original skeleton draft can be enhanced by a search that makes me a better writer. But the goal is different when you do this: you are asking AI to help you learn more, to get more facts right so in the end you can produce better writing. Very different from what a lot of folks are doing.
In the end, mostly agree: if the writing doesn't have the voice of the writer, what is unique about it?
So long as you read it with your wonderful Italian accent I will agree with anything you say or write!
Heh heh this brings back a memory from when I worked as an R&D engineer for a medical device company. I often had to write technical data papers that had to be approved by quality control and regulatory people. I OFTEN got into writing “pissing matches” with one particular quality control engineer, Enrico (from Italy actually!😂). Once we went back and forth for over a week over the word I insisted to use when describing what type of sample to take from a piece of vinyl that was used in a product we were developing - the word was swathe. Its typically a word to describe a piece of sewing material (my mom used it all the time). Enrico had never heard of the word and insisted that it was “too local/cultural” of a word for our application. In the end I relented abd replaced “swathe” with “cut sample” throughout my document.😂. I wonder what AI would have chosen?
If you ask AI, i'd love to know the answer
Oh crud. ChatGPT chose “cut sample”!😂
"Cut sample" clearly and directly conveys that a piece was physically cut from the vinyl.
To my point that ChatGPT sucks :)
We need a new word for writing with AI. The word writing is a creative process of a very individualistic nature. No two people of the billions on this planet now or in the past express an idea with the same words, syntax etc.
AI is a revolutionary writing tool but it is the tool not the hand that holds it. That is made of flesh and blood.
I agree, recently I’ve enjoyed using GPT to reply specifically soullessly to emails to work and such. Conversationally I’ve also found it useful to reflect like “shower thoughts” there’s not much other use I’ve found for it, so far…
Among the better voices in AI is Andrew Ng, who created the first Coursera course on Machine Learning and led the Google Brain team. Andrew spoke about appropriate use of AI as a collaborator, something to bounce ideas off of. He spoke about using AI to check drafts and make edit suggestions, so that the iteration is much more like your spell checker on steroids.
And I will admit that finding new directions of thought prompted by an external stimulus (in my case a weekly Sudoku and crossword) really can help. But just asking AI to do it for you is like paying a machine to have sex for you.
If I were to imagine using AI constructively for writing, I could see giving it a draft with a bunch of questions at key points (e.g. "Is this historical note correct?" or "What would this look like?") so that the original skeleton draft can be enhanced by a search that makes me a better writer. But the goal is different when you do this: you are asking AI to help you learn more, to get more facts right so in the end you can produce better writing. Very different from what a lot of folks are doing.
In the end, mostly agree: if the writing doesn't have the voice of the writer, what is unique about it?