I don’t h a t e AI.
It can even be unintentionally funny. You’ve probably seen (and been traumatised by) some uncanny valley AI art abominations by now. “Everything Everywhere…” hotdog fingers and all.
A.I. jokes are tragic, though. They’re so cheesy you can’t help but imagine a rimshot.
The real fun starts when you get away from the productivity side and flex your right brain creativity skills. Dabbling in some good ole’ fiction writing.
I’m talking, of course, about RPGing.
When I was a kid, one of my favourite games was “Consequences.” The one where you and your friends write parts of a story, fold it over and pass it on. Then it’s read out loud.
Storywriting and RPGing with AI feels like Consequences with the quiet wildcard friend, who likes to take things left for no reason.
Sometimes, it works and gets ideas (and laughs) flowing.
Other times, your character arrives home from a hard day at work to a pesky dead body on the sofa. Again. Leaving you wondering what in the M. Night Shyamalan is going on (and which kid at the birthday party should be watched extra closely).
… But that’s not to say the whole thing is a write-off.
There’s a lot of ongoing AI chat in the writer-sphere, specifically ChatGPT. Everyone and their mum has done a thinkpiece by this point. Some think it’s cool, while others worry what it’ll do to our jobs and brains. Both are good points.
Like it or not, it’s around for the foreseeable. So you might as well see if you can get any mileage out of it…
Me? I’m a chaotic overthinker. All part of the neurospicy package. When I realise I don’t understand something, I get flustered. Here’s my take on the stages of competence (with some swearing thrown in):
It’s like I know there’s something I don’t understand, but don’t know what. I haven’t put it into words yet, like figuring out why a baby is crying. I know if I voice my “question” to a person at this stage, they won’t know what the hell I’m talking about.
I’ve played around with ChatGPT at my “half-question” phase, and it’s pretty helpful. It organises my messy, often runaway, train of thought. Then it throws it back at me as a straightforward question and response. It cuts straight to the point I’m trying to make.
I’ve heard “There’s no such thing as a stupid question,” until it makes my eyes roll. But it’s nice to have a truly judgement-free zone to get my mental shit in order.
It has its uses …
Sometimes.
I hear through the grapevine you’ve got to fact-check the info it gives you. Bringing me to the possibly controversial point of this post.
ChatGPT isn’t Black-business friendly.
I’ve asked for its help many times. Nothing overly taxing, just “Hey, can you pull up a list of 10 Black-owned businesses in X sector, please*?”
*I always greet it and say “please.” It’ll remember my manners during the great AI uprising. Those who don’t: enjoy smashing rocks with the other prisoners.
It always replied, “Sure, I can help you with that! Here you go.” And offered maybe 1 or 2 relevant businesses…before padding the list out with White-owned businesses instead.
4 times. I asked 4 times whether the businesses were actually Black-owned. And 4 times it confidently replied, “Yes!” …only to be called out when I fact-checked, moments later. Sure, it always apologised. But I didn’t feel it was very sorry at all.
After the 4th list of misleading links, I kissed my teeth and went about my day.
So, yes. Enjoy ChatGPT, but don’t lose your head. It’s good commonsense to check your facts, anyway. But for the moment, AI’s not pivoted towards inclusivity or growth of minority businesses.
I’m on to them… and will be diving deeper into this in a later post.
The Copy Mixtress 