The assumed discomfort with solitude baked into so much AI marketing is very interesting. As someone who finds value in the solitary act of writing (in parsing the back and forth of my own thoughts), I always find these sorts of appeals baffling. "Never write alone!" "Receive 24/7 assistance!" "Your always-on-call writing coach!" I can't help but assume these sorts of appeals are only compelling to people who find no value in the creative process. What's disturbing is that judging by the hype around AI, there are lots of people like that. Makes me think that if we lived in a more literary culture, we'd be less collectively enamored with AI.
Yes, it's clear that the pitch is to lessen the burden of writing for people who already consider it to be little more than a chore. I was thinking again about this essay over the weekend while I was listening to this episode of Search Engine:
One point that John Warner makes towards the end is that the reason LLMs are so capable of writing high school English essays is because the process has already been deadened by a formulaic set of expectations (intro pgh., three supporting points, "In conclusion...") which defeat the purpose of writing to begin with.
The assumed discomfort with solitude baked into so much AI marketing is very interesting. As someone who finds value in the solitary act of writing (in parsing the back and forth of my own thoughts), I always find these sorts of appeals baffling. "Never write alone!" "Receive 24/7 assistance!" "Your always-on-call writing coach!" I can't help but assume these sorts of appeals are only compelling to people who find no value in the creative process. What's disturbing is that judging by the hype around AI, there are lots of people like that. Makes me think that if we lived in a more literary culture, we'd be less collectively enamored with AI.
Wrote a bit about this awhile back: https://www.persuasion.community/p/in-defense-of-the-human-brain?utm_source=publication-search
Yes, it's clear that the pitch is to lessen the burden of writing for people who already consider it to be little more than a chore. I was thinking again about this essay over the weekend while I was listening to this episode of Search Engine:
https://open.spotify.com/episode/492nD3j7hQA9beMhtftUKS
One point that John Warner makes towards the end is that the reason LLMs are so capable of writing high school English essays is because the process has already been deadened by a formulaic set of expectations (intro pgh., three supporting points, "In conclusion...") which defeat the purpose of writing to begin with.