Statement on Generative AI

It’s an AI world we’re in, and I think it's better to explicitly state a position (even if nobody cares.) 

TL;DR: 

My writing is my own. If a word or sentence appears on one of my pages, then every character, word, sentence and up originated with me. I do not use AI to write for me. I do not use AI to edit my written work.  

My maximum use of AI is as a preliminary search engine, with facts and information double checked. I have, on occassion, asked Claude to give me a pep talk when I think I'm a bad writer and should quit. But then again Claude never reads my writing so how good can its advice be.

Medium Length Nuance: 

I'm not anti-AI in a total sense. I use it at work, and it helps me help other people. The technology is incredible, and I think it'll only get better. I think it's as big an invention as humans make, and I try to be an optimist about the long term impacts. 

AI - specifically, generative AI and the kind that can write things - is an earth-shattering technology. I am firmly of the camp which believes AI will be disruptive in a way no other technology has been. AI already encroaches on my day job in ways I would never have predicted. 

The quality of AI writing (and other art or creative endeavors) may continue to go up and up - I'm not certain. I also don't care. The creative process matters, and you cannot separate the process from the product. 

I am wholly against the replacement or subplanting of real creative humans with machines. 

The best case use of AI is to take over menial and soul-draining tasks, to better all of human welfare and open up time for people to explore their humanity. I am uninterested in consuming "creative" works made in part or wholly by AI. 

- Arlo