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bec's avatar

The phrase “shortcuts on the road to nowhere” seems so apt. I’m a teacher (undergraduate level). I teach photography, so reading/writing aren’t the primary objective, but obviously are part of the curriculum and how we engage with making art/life’s existential questions. Because of chat gpt (and students general lack of desire to read), I rarely assign readings as homework anymore. If there is an essay/article I want the students to engage with, we read/discuss it in class in groups. Another anecdote: I was giving a student extensive written feedback on an artist statement that they handed in, when it slowly dawned on me that it was ai slop. Not only did I feel like a fool for spending so much time critically engaging with something the student hadn’t even taken time to craft, but I was disheartened to notice that in the student’s final draft, they accepted the 1-2 “copy” edits in gdocs, but completely ignored all of the larger feedback/questions/comments I had written down in service of their work. Chat GPT is annoying, but what really makes me sad is the lack of curiosity that it both reflects and engenders. It bums me out that most people can’t seem to discern the difference in quality of what it’s outputting either.

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kelly johnson's avatar

I was JUST talking about this same lack of curiosity with my friend who teaches 7th/8th grade. She took them on a field trip to D.C. and showed them all where John Wilkes Booth assassinated Lincoln and the kids were absolutely bored out of their fucking minds, all on their phones. HELP

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Courtney Bowers's avatar

Ugh yes I've been thinking a LOT about this lately. I call it "shortcuts on the road to nowhere" if you're using AI for basic creative functions. Like none of this matters in the end anyways but the effort is what makes things distinctly human and soulful, and you're just robbing yourself of the chance to try. My bf ran into a friend of a friend recently who was sooo excited to show him the short story he was "writing" on chatgpt. The eyerolls got bigger and deeper when the same guy said he'd used illustrations from a well-known book to "draw" something too. When my bf said he knew someone who'd done illustrations for that book, the guy didn't seem to connect at all with the fact that he and the AI were effectively stealing from someone in his wider circle who wasn't being compensated for their work for it. So wild and disheartening. But with regards to AI I've ultimately netted out that we really need 1) more regulation and oversight which will be dictated by 2) deciding what our society actual values—tech innovation no matter the cost or supporting real human beings? And I'm not convinced we're there yet or ready to answer those q's sadly

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kelly johnson's avatar

Writing a short story on ChatGPT will appear in my nightmares

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Alex M's avatar

I am also SO TIRED of people using ChatGPT and killing 12 trees just to figure out what the ingredients are to guacamole. Can we talk about the environmental impact, here???

Let's use AI to do cool shit, that humans could never do, and do the grunt ourselves. Be. Better.

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kelly johnson's avatar

YES this is so spot on

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Alaina's avatar

Yes, this!! I came to the comments to note the environmental impact as well!

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Alex M's avatar

A+ ever after gif choice

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kelly johnson's avatar

🥹

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Emily's avatar

Omg I didn’t spot the IUD!!!

I LOVE her “melodrama” album - it’s soo good! I live in MTL and dont have anyone to go with 👀 I’ve been to gigs before on my own but its not the same 🥲

So I have a lot of thoughts on chat GPT. Firstly, I had NO idea how much people were / are using it?! People use it ALL DAY LONG? And for everything? Travel itineraries? Even the most basic stuff? I only used it for one basic function for work, nothing major - but I was shocked when I realised how much everyone else was using it!!

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kelly johnson's avatar

It seriously would never, in a million years, cross my mind to think of asking AI for a travel itinerary. ChatGPT ain't been to Tuscany you know what I mean

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Emily's avatar

RIGHT????

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Alaina's avatar

I’m a graphic designer and so the use of AI (for visual creation) is tough to see. I think (aka hope) people will see through it and start to want real created things again AND start to understand the horrible environmental impact and swing back towards authenticity. But who knows, the new generations are being brought up and raised on the “easy” way to do things through shortcuts and everyone is chronically online so how things will advance and how it will impact literally everything is scary.

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kelly johnson's avatar

Honestly it's terrifying. I haven't even thought about how it will affect visual artists as much and you're so right. I HATE IT HERE

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Alex M's avatar
kelly johnson's avatar

This gives me HEART PALPITATIONS

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Cait's avatar

AI makes me worried I won't have a job in a year or two. I am a Marketer for an engineering firm, and the way things are going, it feels like I am one Microsoft Co-Pilot plug-in away from being phased out. Is this just my psyche being freaked out about something I don't fully comprehend? Maybe. But it doesn't change the fact that my job's security FEELS very threatened. (Despite my boss's reassurance that this isn't the case.)

AI is not a human, and it can't anticipate all the things we care about, but rather than seeing this as a silver lining to the true value of human workers, Silicon Valley seems to think of this as a bug to be worked out in their LLMs rather than an inherent nod to the value of a human perspective.

How will this all play out? I don't know. I just hope that the future therapists who are now in school, aren't using ChatGPT to write their essays and learn their stuff. I hope the people being trained for professions to help other human beings are aware of how magical being a person is, and they embrace that part of themselves, rather than letting it be watered down by a program that can spit out essay question answers faster than the time it takes to upload a new video to TikTok.

Also, I did NOT use AI to write this comment. I tried to sift through my feelings on this topic, and write them out in my own words. In a world where everyone can Google any question with a straight answer, this feels a little scary! Everyone is so afraid of being wrong since every instance of wrongness opens you up to be called uninformed or dumb.

Maybe one step we need to take to relieve a little of the pressure from the dependence on AI is to give each other grace, and to talk to the humans who are putting themselves (and their feelings) out there, like actual humans who are worthy of dignity and respect! Instead of jumping down each other's throats and notating incorrect statements, can we try to understand or clarify what the other person meant? Not everyone deserves the benefit of the doubt, but empathy is powerful, and I think we can find some genuine connections that AI is unable to replicate, if we just do what is natural to humans, rather than changing our behaviors depending on the latest technological advance.

Not sure if this all makes sense, but thank you for providing a space where we can feel free to explore our feelings without fear of judgement.

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kelly johnson's avatar

I love this I want the TedTalk

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