A(nnoyingly) I(nvasive): Fuming About AI

Allow me to preface: the concept and development of AI intrigues me, especially as a storytelling element. When I was working on F.R.A.G.M.E.N.T.I.D. several years ago (an Undertale fanfiction I had to set aside for various reasons but want to finish), fully realized AI played an integral role to the overarching plot, which I find hilarious because, though I started writing it years prior to the AI boom, that's the time period during which it was set. In the Mass Effect series, I loved the integration of the Geth and EDI and how they developed over time depending on your choices. Cortana in Halo was...eh. We won't talk about her.

As for AI itself, I don't want to harp on the positives and negatives of it or the large tech firms that are developing it, because regardless of what anyone thinks, it's a tool that's here to stay, and as a tool, it certainly has its uses. This post simply boils down my pet peeve of having unwanted suggestions or demands shoved down my throat.

And by God am I sick of having AI shoved down my throat. Meta AI, Adobe AI, Chat GPT, Image Creator in Bing. That's not even taking into account the debates surrounding AI use in art or music, or hiring managers using AI to weed out resumes. No matter where you turn in the digital realm, there's an ad or a suggestion or a reminder saying, "Hey! AI can make your life easier! Just click the little button to have Wix AI type up your post for you!" (I legit almost howled opening up the draft of this post because of my screenshot below.)

I wish I was kidding.

(A quick note about this screenshot's background color: I'm still working on my official color scheme for the blog and am currently working through a WIP of the site.)

This. This gets my goat more than anything else AI related I've endured. As soon as you open the app to type up a blog post, it's there, cluttering up the bottom half of your screen taking up a solid 20% of the page until you start typing the main body. I have yet to find a means of turning it off (if someone knows, please tell me), but from the moment it appeared a month or so ago to now, its presence has lingered like a popped boil on the bottom of one's foot. Every time you step, you notice that frustrating sting. The pressure builds until you just want to scream.

If that wasn't bad enough, let's play an I-Spy game. See how many AI references you can spot on the page. Ready?

(I SpAI, am I right?)

Please, Wix, just stop. AI should not replace the critical thinking process for humans but augment it. If I want to blog, then it is my responsibility to chew and savor every word I've written myself; then, if I want, I can use AI to augment or garnish my writing in ways that I may not have previously considered. However, it would be dishonest, even downright criminal of me to generate a full blog post with AI, then publish it claiming that it's mine. If I need to rely on AI to write and post my blogs for me, then maybe I shouldn't be blogging in the first place, hm?

Now, on the flip side, is generating AI images with Bing amusing and fun? Yes. Yes, it is. So is using Chat GPT to tell nonsensical stories. I'll gladly play with either for my own personal enjoyment. However, using AI to do the hard work for you, like relying on it so you can pose as a professional artist without having put in the time and effort to learn how to draw, is like living off the cliched diet of junk food: in the long term, it isn't filling. Or fulfilling. So I ask you, put in the work without using AI as a crutch, because accomplishing a difficult task is worth it.

And if you do use AI, all the power to you, just don't let it choke you on the way down.

Questions for Contemplation & Discussion

• What is it about the AI trend that most grinds your gears?

• What about AI technology are you eager to see evolve and develop?

• What regulations, if any, should be implemented to limit the power and permissions given to companies on the development of AI?

  • In addition, should AI eventually be a government-regulated utility like water or electricity or should it stay in the hands of capitalist interests? Why, one way or the other?

• If AI reached the Singularity within your lifetime, would you reject and fear it or embrace our new AI overlords?

Other Notable Accomplishments:

• Saturday & Tuesday: Transcribed 2 sessions in 2 days

  • I find I prefer this method instead of stringing the transcribing process throughout the week because otherwise I begin dreading it. Even though I'm essentially limited to only transcribing and maybe working out on the given day, it opens up the rest of my week to focus on other assignments.

• Thursday: Accidentally but successfully bumped up my weight for dumbbell shoulder presses from my 2.5/1.25 lb plates to 5/2.5 lb plates.

  • Yeeeaaah...I mistook the weight of the plates because of the way Google Sheets cuts off the numbers within a cell, and I didn't think to look at the individual cell itself.

  • My lats are a little sore today, but otherwise I'm fine!

• Wrote 2 of Cael's journals: 9th & 10th of Nudon, which puts me ahead because technically we're not finished with the 10th in-session yet

  • The drafts are very, very rough

• Also wrote some Message correspondence between Cael and a number of their friends, which could make its way into the story, though I'm not yet sure how

• Soundbooth blankets are back up! (The cats enjoyed climbing them, which was tearing out the seams and causing the soundbooth to tip over....)

  • Hopefully this means I'll be recording and uploading some of my blog posts as audio files

• Friday: I really, really didn't want to work out today. I looked at the scheduled moves and just groaned (weighted single-legged hip thrusts, ugh....). My energy wasn't there, and even the power of habit flickered dimly in the cosm of 絶対いやだ, or, "No, no, no, no, definitely no."

  • I did it though. I lowered my rep count, but I dun did it. How? By swinging my arms in large circles to warm up and moving on from there. That was the hardest part.

The Struggle Is Real:

• Anything/everything related to the development of Fear No More itself, such as the layout, logo, images, figuring out little bugs like the asynchronous updates between the blogs featured on the homepage vs those on the blog page, getting the automated e-mails formatted correctly because for some reason none of my changes save correctly (sorry to everyone receiving duplicate e-mails each week), etc....

  • It's not a lack of interest so much as I tend to focus on my story, since I have many journals to write; finding that groove a couple weeks ago with my schedule has helped with my ability to focus on writing as a task, but it's still going to take a while to catch up

  • It probably doesn't help that my to-do board has been cluttered with other tasks, so the Site-related ones have remained in my backlog within my productivity journal, but with most of the board tasks completed now, I should be able to transfer some of that backlog over

• The notion of uploading pre-site projects. I still wrestle with this idea of, "Ogawd, this isn't good enough to put out there; I'd get ripped to shreds." The struggle is real, but that's why Fear No More exists. Posting cruddy drafts of my character's journals has helped. Writing blogs in general has helped. So, we're turtling along.

  • Honestly, I'd probably be fine if I just took a day to tackle that particular Wawful.

    • I should put this on my to-do list.

This Week's Obligatory Cat Pic: Qiri

Don't be fooled by her display of innocence. She will reach out to claw you as you walk past. She's by far the craziest of the three.