I don’t use AI because I’m lazy.
My job as a writer and translator is to produce excellence. Let me use translation as an example of how AI creates extra work because it’s easy to explain, and I really am lazy.
You may know that an AI can produce a translation that might be passably correct, although it will sound “off” in certain ways. I could use that as a first draft and fix it, right?
Sure. But it’s faster and easier to do it right the first time. If I fix an AI first draft, I have to go over every single word just as if I were translating it on my own, sometimes reviewing it several times, to drag it into excellence. Fixing AI slop is like flying from Chicago to New York and changing planes in Miami. I prefer a direct flight. I also prefer airplane pilots who have not ingested hallucinogens.
I’ve been writing professionally for more than a half century, and I’ve learned how to do a lot of things because I’ve done them uncounted times, but I still learn something new every single time I write anything. Using an AI would be like sending someone to the gym for me. I wouldn’t get stronger. Although I am lazy, I will work hard at writing because that’s how I pay the rent — and because I enjoy writing so much that I want to excel.
Striving for excellence is satisfying. Look at the faces of sweaty athletes on the field during a game. They’re having the time of their lives.
***
Rant over. If you want further rants, here are some curated links:
AI Killed My Job: Translators – by Brian Merchant
The Value of Human Translation – American Translators Association
Best Translation Apps: A Translator Puts Four to the Test – American Translators Association
Humans are being hired to make AI slop look less sloppy – NBC News
As AI Gets Smarter, It Acts More Evil – by Ted Gioia
Time to Play … !! SPOT THE BOT !! – Writer Unboxed
AI Spam – The Encyclopedia of Science Fiction
Criticism in the Age of AI – by Lincoln Michel
Artificial Intelligence and Ethics – Delancyplace
Word of the week: Clanker – by Nancy Friedman – Fritinancy
The Internet Is Turning You Into Someone You’d Hate IRL – WebMD
Could AI Data Centers Drain Lake Michigan? – The Block Club Chicago Podcast
Sue Burke 
I completely agree. It’s more of a pain.
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I agree. Well said. 🙂
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I saw your title and thought I would have a great comment until I opened the post and you already used the “I’m lazy” line. I am OK with AI and ATMs. I just don’t use them!
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There is an expression, if all you have is a hammer, everything looks like a nail. If AI doesn’t help you, that could be because you’re not using it properly. You might be trying to use it as a hammer, when what you need is a screwdriver. AI is an all-purpose tool, but you have to know how to use it, and that comes from experience.
When Einstein was shown a prototype for a computer, he asked what it could do. They said that it could do math. He pulled a slide rule out of his pocket and said, I can do math with this. He didn’t see the potential. He didn’t see that it could one day be used to play music, or movies, generate images, enhance telescopic images or link the world via the Internet .
AI is similar. We think we know what it supposedly does, and we don’t know how that can help us. It can do much more than what we think it can do. What we need to do is figure out how it can be useful in our lives. The more I use it, the more ways I see that it can help me.
Maybe you won’t use it to translate, but it might be useful in other areas of your life. The more you use it, the more uses you will find for it.
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I agree, but that leads to two more problems. First, AIs are being used in ways for things it can’t do safely, and people are getting hurt, even killed. Second, AI is being marketed irresponsibly for things it obviously can’t do but might make its owner some money before it collapses into destruction. There’s a hammer, and it’s swinging around with no control.
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All tools can be dangerous in the wrong hands, and the most powerful tools can be the most dangerous (ex. nuclear power). It’s important that we have responsible people enforcing guidelines, but we can’t put the genie back in the bottle, so we just have to be careful what we wish for.
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