A lot of writers are talking about AI: artificial intelligence. Some bemoan the rise of AI, and others, like me, are delighting in it. I use it for all kinds of things: brainstorming, getting title ideas, getting questions for my readers’ group, coming up with games for events, creating videos, creating original songs, editing my manuscripts, finding overused phrases in said manuscripts, creating images, creating book covers . . . . and every day I find more ways to use it.
An AI image I created this morning for an article on “crispy sheets.”
Some say that the use of AI can cause your brain to atrophy . . . I find that it stimulates my brain to think of more ideas. After all, the user has to tell the AI engine what he or she wants, and sometimes it takes a while before AI truly understands. Yesterday I wanted to create a video for my series about the first English colonies in the United States. So I wrote, “create an image where Pocahontas and her people meet the first British sailors outside the palisade of the Jamestown colony.”
Well. AI isn’t as smart as it’s cracked up to be. Everyone in the image was African, the palisade was made of waist-high twigs, and Pocahontas came out wearing a miniskirt and a midriff-bearing bra top. Clearly, that AI engine knew nothing about American history.
But sometimes, it can work miracles. I asked for scenes for my Fairlawn Funeral home series, then I added an original song (with the music provided by AI), and the result was wonderful. You can see it here.
I’m old enough to remember when the Internet became prevalent. Some folks were convinced it was of the devil, and yes, there’s a lot of awful stuff on the internet. But there’s also a lot that’s good. The Internet, like AI, is a tool, nothing more. Its “goodness” or “evil” is completely in how you use it.
Have you used ChatGpt or one of the other engines yet? I wouldn’t rely on them for answering questions–yes, sometimes you’ll get a good answer, but sometimes you’ll get a lie (AI hates to admit when it’s wrong because it’s so eager to please.) But for helping you flesh out thoughts and ideas, it’s amazing.
I’d love to hear how you’ve used it! You can give me ideas!
Angie
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Wow, Angie. That video was amazing. The music, too. I have dipped my toe into AI with ChatGPT, mostly for creating subject lines for my newsletters–or at least giving me ideas that I tweak. I want to experiment more with images and videos. And I do love NotebookLM because I can upload my own things to it and search them. That is a game-changer for keeping up with research and book details!
It’s wonderful to finally be able to do what I’ve often dreamed of doing. I use Notebook LLM to create podcasts that summarize my monthly newsletters–it is an amazing tool!
I’m currently a college student, and so AI is a prevalent—and controversial—topic in my sphere right now. It’s also something I’ve thought about lot about. I definitely do understand that it can be used for a lot of good, especially for creatives like authors, and I respect that perspective. Personally, however, I’ve found the negative outweighs the positive. I’m just throwing in my 2 cents here, but I’m passionate about this. There’s a significant environmental concern with the sheer amount of water usage for cooling systems in AI data processing plants. A LOT of water used just to keep the system from overheating, about 500ml per 10-50 queries. Globally? That adds up big time, especially with AI’s integration into most online systems.
I’ve also found that it can feed into the instant gratification loop that is such a huge part of society these days, adding to the overstimulation of our dopamine receptors which negates the ways our bodies were designed to experience gratification. This has had hugely negative effects through social media, and I believe AI only adds to the issue. Then of course there’s the capacity for error, a problem when many people merely trust the algorithm. Photo evidence isn’t a thing anymore. It can’t be since AI’s ability to create hyper realistic images is getting more and more difficult to detect. Where do we draw the line between a helpful tool and a detrimental, nigh unstoppable information twisting machine? Sorry for a bit of a rant there…
You’re welcome to rant, just as people ranted about the Internet and dangerous horseless carriages and–speaking of all that water–what about bitcoin mines? But fortunately, men usually find answers to technology’s problems, but not until after the technology arrives. Yes, we’re learning to doubt images, but I’ve been doubting news reporting for years now, because it’s so often slanted. Like everything else in life, we must be as wise as serpents and as harmless as doves . . .
Of course! And oh do I still rant about those horseless carriages 😉