It's fairly easy to think of the rise of AI as the next revolution in the history of humanity, in that the industrial revolution essentially created jobs for individuals by running craftsmen out of business. The blacksmith, smelter, and basically many fabricants in the old ways had to bow down to the superior manufacturing power of the fabrication plant, and the parallels between that upheaval and the one that’s burgeoning today are just too similar to each other.
They’re saying that creators are the ones at risk this time around. Writers (like myself) are on the chopping block, once AI writers like chatGPT become capable of writing stuff that sounds like it was written by a genuine human being. Artists are also in danger, since things like Nightcafe and Openart exist, and can do within a much shorter span of time what it would normally take a single artist days of work. Even coders – simple coders who write lines of front-end code – might be in trouble, since these AI apps can, again, do their work within minutes.
In short, using AI is faster and more efficient, which makes
it such a nifty tool for businesses.
But I’ve always thought that the person who doesn’t see an
opportunity when it presents itself is a pretty sad excuse for an individual (slur
notwithstanding). The opportunity that AI presents to creators, like myself,
this time around is challenging, but one that doesn’t have to mean the end of our
craft. AI might just be the next step in the craft’s evolution, and if people
within my industry don’t make good use of these tools, then we might be left
behind in the times, leading to our obsolescence.
This isn’t to advocate the replacement of hard work with AI
work; in fact, working with AI presents its own unique challenges, such as
making the text sound human enough so that it doesn’t come off wooden or dry.
But these types of tools can make the challenge of creating new work much MUCH more
efficient, especially when you know how to get your tools to do exactly what
you need them to do.
The revolution is in its infancy, and there’s plenty of room
to grow and make mistakes, for sure. But in the short time I’ve worked with AI
platforms, I’ve been more impressed with the amount of grunt work it removes
from my day-to-day work than I have been horrified at the potential
implications. Theoretically, this can increase my personal productivity by at
least 40% (I think), and that’s no mean feat. And if I give anybody who works
for me the permission to use these tools as well, that’s going to make things a
lot more efficient.
Sure, there’s the challenge of making sure that the content
isn’t just pulled willy-nilly from thin air. Each AI-generated piece of content
needs to be thoroughly fact-checked afterward before it gets turned in. There’s
also the unfortunate reality that chatGPT’s intelligence only contains
information up to 2021, meaning you’ll need to spoon-feed it some of the information
you need to keep things current or evergreen. But these are just minor drawbacks.
There’s no doubt in my mind that the technology will eventually outgrow this.
The only problem I see on the horizon is the pricing some of
these platforms will begin to charge once the technology’s pretty solid. The
whole concept of using AI is to reduce expenses while increasing productivity
in my opinion. If the technology doesn’t keep its rates lower than the monthly
payment a third-world country like mine would pay a full-time worker, then it
ceases being cost-efficient. But, again, that remains to be seen. For now, the
price of admission is freeware, and it’s best to get used to the technology and
its boons and pitfalls as best as we can.
And no, I still believe in the importance of being able to
write a piece from scratch all on your own. That bit takes a special kind of
discipline, one that creators should never, ever lose. Also, kudos if you get the title hehehe.