One area that I've seem significant impact is the use of AI for crafters (i. e., on Etsy or Ebay). The AI engines sweep up their work and compile designs, complete with instructions and supplies list, for the user. The people who create and sell designs are cut out of the process completely. Enforcing copyright protection for creators is essential--as is the common decency of those who refuse to consume pirated intellectual property.
Is there a way for us to know what is pirated intellectual property? I would be willing to pay more if I knew I was supporting a person who did all the work, but how do we know??
There are many crafters/designers who, if you go to their page on IG, will tell you if one of their pieces has been pirated by AI. Sadly, there is not a way to really notify other than that. But you can use Google Lens when looking at a photo of something, and Google will search for it on the web. You may be able to find the original source that way. :-)
I'll admit that I am fearful of how AI can cause harm. At this point I'm not sure if the pros outweigh the cons. But I know I need to buckle-up because it's not going anywhere!
For me, the key sentence in this essay is "AI promises it will make us infinitely capable, but capability isn’t the same thing as competence." I think that it will demand much more from us as individuals and as a community to recognize truth versus lies and to continue the effort to learn and understand, not just copy/paste.
What concerns me the most is that our government would have to regulate / put up guardrails for the uses of AI and they have no understanding of the technology let alone how to write laws that make AI that benefits the human race without taking away what Sharon describes as ‘the grit in the gears’, our creativity, our critical thinking, our humanity. Don’t get me wrong there are some good uses for AI (speeding up research with the caveat trust but verify) and I have seen articles of AI being trained with indigenous knowledge but the amount of times I had to research the AI answer that annoyingly pops up on google and found it to be misleading causes me to keep AI at arms length and do my research on any subject using books.
I love all your articles, Sharon, but this one just hit different for me today. So poignant as every day your workplace is pushing the adoption of AI and at social gatherings, it’s no longer “I’ll Google it,” it’s “let me ask ChatGPT.” It is inescapable and this article has amplified the small question in the back of my mind…how do I stay sharp and creative, and not fall into the over-reliance on generative AI.
“…and those with presses had populations that grew roughly 50% faster than cities without them”
As a researcher in a different field, I found this fascinating. It is something that never occurred to me. But it also made me thing about other causes and effects historically that I hadn’t ever considered. It made me want to think and reason about things more. On my own. As a thinker.
“authenticity becomes harder to measure”
This one right here. In a world where YouTube videos are AI narrated, AI generated, it is the authenticity that is slowly seeping out of what we do and see. This quote really hit home.
“Reasoning is not a chore”
I was an educator for 31 years; I still work in an education field. Leveraging AI correctly is something we try to work on every day, but this…I would shout from the rooftops…REASONING is not a chore! Great piece.
Like I've have said before, we need to make sure we have a good understanding of what AI is and what it is capable of doing and then see to it that it is regulated to prevent misuse to the detriment of all of us . It has the potential of being a good thing as long as we see to it that it never turns into something monstrous and harmful to all of humanity.
One area that I've seem significant impact is the use of AI for crafters (i. e., on Etsy or Ebay). The AI engines sweep up their work and compile designs, complete with instructions and supplies list, for the user. The people who create and sell designs are cut out of the process completely. Enforcing copyright protection for creators is essential--as is the common decency of those who refuse to consume pirated intellectual property.
Is there a way for us to know what is pirated intellectual property? I would be willing to pay more if I knew I was supporting a person who did all the work, but how do we know??
There are many crafters/designers who, if you go to their page on IG, will tell you if one of their pieces has been pirated by AI. Sadly, there is not a way to really notify other than that. But you can use Google Lens when looking at a photo of something, and Google will search for it on the web. You may be able to find the original source that way. :-)
It would be interesting to see an AI version of this article next to Sharon’s version.
I'll admit that I am fearful of how AI can cause harm. At this point I'm not sure if the pros outweigh the cons. But I know I need to buckle-up because it's not going anywhere!
For me, the key sentence in this essay is "AI promises it will make us infinitely capable, but capability isn’t the same thing as competence." I think that it will demand much more from us as individuals and as a community to recognize truth versus lies and to continue the effort to learn and understand, not just copy/paste.
What concerns me the most is that our government would have to regulate / put up guardrails for the uses of AI and they have no understanding of the technology let alone how to write laws that make AI that benefits the human race without taking away what Sharon describes as ‘the grit in the gears’, our creativity, our critical thinking, our humanity. Don’t get me wrong there are some good uses for AI (speeding up research with the caveat trust but verify) and I have seen articles of AI being trained with indigenous knowledge but the amount of times I had to research the AI answer that annoyingly pops up on google and found it to be misleading causes me to keep AI at arms length and do my research on any subject using books.
I love all your articles, Sharon, but this one just hit different for me today. So poignant as every day your workplace is pushing the adoption of AI and at social gatherings, it’s no longer “I’ll Google it,” it’s “let me ask ChatGPT.” It is inescapable and this article has amplified the small question in the back of my mind…how do I stay sharp and creative, and not fall into the over-reliance on generative AI.
These three quotes struck me as noteworthy:
“…and those with presses had populations that grew roughly 50% faster than cities without them”
As a researcher in a different field, I found this fascinating. It is something that never occurred to me. But it also made me thing about other causes and effects historically that I hadn’t ever considered. It made me want to think and reason about things more. On my own. As a thinker.
“authenticity becomes harder to measure”
This one right here. In a world where YouTube videos are AI narrated, AI generated, it is the authenticity that is slowly seeping out of what we do and see. This quote really hit home.
“Reasoning is not a chore”
I was an educator for 31 years; I still work in an education field. Leveraging AI correctly is something we try to work on every day, but this…I would shout from the rooftops…REASONING is not a chore! Great piece.
Like I've have said before, we need to make sure we have a good understanding of what AI is and what it is capable of doing and then see to it that it is regulated to prevent misuse to the detriment of all of us . It has the potential of being a good thing as long as we see to it that it never turns into something monstrous and harmful to all of humanity.