Insecure Writers Want to Know
AI. I wish I understood it better.
I believe AI is a program. And there are different programs. AI follows your prompts, parameters, or questions. It’s a tool. It can give you a base, a starting point for a project or research or image. AI shows you, what is already out there on the web, in libraries, or research sites. AI draws on the information you give it access to. An AI program merely gleans information from what is already in existence and distills it per its programming. Sometimes in minutes!
But.
I still say machines can’t think. Oh, machines can tally up numbers or percentages once a person creates a table or spreadsheet. AI can gather scientific information out on the net, once experiments have been completed by humans, and follow its program to collate or maybe evaluate the findings to your specifications.
Yet in more subjective or creative areas, such as any psychological or philosophical circumstance or case or stories or artwork, AI can only tell you what’s already out there. Themes or subject matter. Using someone else’s words. It cannot think—or rather feel—to consider how another person would act or believe or change in certain circumstances. AI cannot come to its own conclusion.
We humans use lived experiences to make decisions. It’s our backstory. It’s what makes us act the way we do. We consider the extenuating circumstances. Yes, machines can gather information for us, but we still need to be the one to make a final judgement. Whether it’s a story we are writing, an image we are contemplating, or a theory we are trying to understand.
AI should not be the end product of whatever a human is using the information-gathering program for. I will enjoy learning more about AI from your posts this month.
In October, I’m offering 2 FREE writing workshops.
On Thursday, October 19, 2023, at 6-7:00 p.m. at the Maple Shade Library in New Jersey, I will offer participants a framework to help them revise their fiction or memoir.
Maple Shade Library
200 Stiles Ave.
Maple Shade, NJ 08052
856-779-9767
Revision: The Questions to Ask – Register here: https://www.bcls.lib.nj.us/events/6269
AND
On Saturday, October 21, 2023, at the Eastern Monroe Public Library in Stroudsburg, Pennsylvania, I will be presenting a free workshop on Short Story Writing for the Pocono Liars’ Club. I will share the five elements of a short story and how to use them with tight word counts.
Hughes Main Library of Eastern Monroe Public Library
1002 North 9th Street
Stroudsburg, PA 18360
570-421-0800
The 5 Elements of a Short Story – Register here: https://www.eventbrite.com/e/2023-pocono-liars-writers-workshop-tickets-689500092337?fbclid=IwAR2WdwseKQgNDkZqMujEJiZqIDZH1gQ4OZyY_nmZvQCTGEvG3Bbb6cnTCLk
If you are in these areas, I’d love to see you there. I’m encouraging participants to bring their works-in-progress in order to ask specific questions. I want to help you finish your manuscript to the best of your ability.
To find other free workshops I will be presenting this year, just look under the Workshop Events tab at my website. Thank you!
I am extremely thankful for all of you for being my sounding board and advisors on this scary writing and publishing journey.
Thanks for stopping by my little spot on the web. Please come again!
This post was written for the Insecure Writer’s Support Group. I’d like to thank our co-hosts for October:
Natalie Aguirre, Kim Lajevardi, Debs Carey, Gwen Gardner, Patricia Josephine, and Rebecca Douglass! Please visit them if you can.
Our group posts on the first Wednesday of every month. To join us, or learn more about the group, click HERE.
They can program it to calculate but you’re right, it can’t feel.
Good luck with the workshops!
Thank you, Alex, for your good wishes. You are right. Only humans and animals can feel. Thanks for visiting Adventures in Writing. Have a beautiful day!
Can’t feel – strong case, in two words, brilliant.
Time to ditch that word artificial, which adds nothing and puts people off. …
Afraid Westmorland’s too far for your workshops.
Hi, Esther! Thanks for visiting Adventures in Writing.
No. Computers or artificial intelligence cannot feel. End of story. I think you are right. The word “artificial” detracts from what the search device does. Have a beautiful day!
I agree with you that AI is a tool for certain things. But it can’t replace humans or write creative stories, TV shows, movies, etc.
You are so right, Natalie. Thanks for visiting Adventures in Writing and weighing in on this subject. Have a beautiful day!
I agree with you. It is a program which gives answers with the parameters you put in. It can give you a starting point, but it can’t give you the creativeness a human can do.
So true, Nas. Humans can create. Machines/programs can search, give facts, tell you what’s already out there. Thanks so much for your note here at Adventures in Writing. Hope you are well.
Great points. I have to agree. I suppose we all use AI when we google for research. It offers a good shortcut in a lot of ways, but no, it can’t create authentic characters and relationships, for which a writer has to draw on what they’ve experienced.
Right, Nick! Thank you so much for offering your insight on this topic. Truly appreciated. Have a beautiful day!
Great points. I agree. I think we need to continue to be discerning, but also celebrate the creativity and individuality of humanity. Our unique quirks are our strength. 🙂
Congratulations on all the classes you are teaching!
Thank you so much for your kind words, Tyrean. And thanks for sharing your input on this subject. Our “unique quirks” are what makes us who we are. All best to you!
Hi Victoria, I absolutely agree with you. AI is a tool which can be used – to good advantage by some, inappropriately by others. I’d still rather enjoy the quirks and oddities which us humans display rather any type of machine “perfection”.
@DebsDespatches posting today from Fiction Can Be Fun
This is true, Debs. As I told Tyrean above, Our quirks and oddities are what makes us who we are. Thanks so much for visiting Adventures in Writing and offering your insight on this topic. All best to you!
I think you hit the core of the problem–humans use lived experiences to make decisions and AI have none of those (except what they find online).
Yes, Jacqui!! And that’s the difference. That’s what makes humans superior to machines/AI. Compassion. Lived experiences. Genuine thought processes.
Thanks so much for your insight here at Adventures in Writing. It is truly appreciated. All best to you!
Best of luck with your upcoming workshops!
Thank you so much, Yvonne. And thank you for leaving a note on Adventures in Writing. Have a beautiful Sunday!
While it can’t feel, will it be able to approximate how humans express feelings and therefore convince enough people that it does? I think that is part of the question. And why are tech folks so focus on approximating humans instead of how to help humans free up time to do squishy human things like art.
That is definitely part of the question, Kristina. Thank you so much for sharing this great insight here at Adventures in Writing. I truly appreciate it. Have a beautiful Sunday!
Thank you for your thoughtful discussion. I really feel pretty helpless and don’t want more gray hair worrying about this, which feels like something I can’t do anything about. I don’t want to use ChatGPT, though I did experiment with a few prompts to see what folks were talking about. The results were pretty intimidating. I’d rather just clunk away at my own keyboard, thank you! Have a truly wonderful day!
Me too, Beth. It’s just me, my mind, and my keyboard to create my stories. I think it’s important to make the story truly ours.
Bravo to you to experiment with ChatGPT. I’m still not brave enough. Hmm…or maybe it is that I’m too tech-challenged to try it.
Thank you for leaving a note on Adventures in Writing. Have a beautiful day!