#0 Welcome to the blog
I write here about the impact of AI, and it may seem that a lot of the titles in this blog suggest that this blog is just about that, but we have other stuff coming too, like project updates, possibly a piece about something cool I found, we'll see when the time comes.
Now, what made me want to create this blog? I listen to a lot of video/audio essays and at the time this idea of a blog came into my head, I had this realization that I also have a lot to express about my feelings about AI, the use of AI etc etc. I remember not really using AI for a while (when it became the buzz), and then being peer pressured into using it "because everyone does it, why not?". WHY NOT? Kinda snowballed into constant AI dependence.
Let me quote the last line of a ChatGPT answer here when I was asking for it to recognize a song from 2007:
"If you find one that seems close but still not exact, tell me one detail you remember about its opening line or fight between vocals and guitar intensity — even one word can crack this."I gave it the exact description of the song, including what device I'd heard the song on, the year, the first few words of the song, the pace, the instruments, and It just DID. NOT. GET. IT. Even after an hour. I was texting a friend at the same time and I just told them that the song was from 2007, on a Nokia, and the first three words were "You and I", and they sent me a link to this song and said "Check if it's this?" AND HOLY COW IT WAS. Here's the song.
When you come to think of it, AI is built to make you depend on it. It keeps asking if you want something else from it. At first it might seem like "Aww ChatGPT is just too kind", but you look at the bigger picture and you just see a slot machine that keeps you coming back for more.
AI Companies WANT TO MAKE YOU DEPENDENT ON THEM. Here is a personal anecdote, I was so busy with logistics and stuff for the TEDx Event that I made ChatGPT write all my emails and letters. At the time it just seemed efficient and less stressful for me, but then I tried to write a letter on my own, and alas, I could not remember the structure of one. This is me, a person people used to come to ask for advice on how to write letters or make me write letters for them, a person who EXCELLED at this stuff, and my mind was completely
B . L . A . N . K
Well, I did not run to ChatGPT to write the letter, I googled it and wrote it on my own. It may seem like a silly complaint, BUT, it adds up. It adds up big time. We need to realise that we are losing touch with what came so easily to us before, we need to recognize this flaw in our behaviour and catch hold of our abilities before it is too late.
I digress, but that is exactly what this blog is for me. I used to write a lot before, and then I started outsourcing it to LLMs for a bit, and I am trying to take control of my ability to write.
I could say the same for code, people often go to LLMs to generate code. They think 'obviously it must write better code than me no?'. But you must remember, before AI could write code, humans were 100% able to write code, hell, complex and awesome code, better than any LLM could.
Never doubt what a human can do, if he wills, he will do it better than AI.
#1 The Linkedin Uncanny Valley
Do you know what the uncanny valley is? If not here is a visual:
I realised a few weeks ago that Linkedin was sending me way too many notifications and I turned them off. So when I do visit it once every 14 days or so, I subject myself to the torture that are linkedin posts. When I first made a Linkedin account, back in 2022 (before use of AI was a thing, coincidentally) I don’t remember much other than short posts about people's academic/work related wins and a few corporate memes here and there. I remember trying to write my first ever post too, finally just settling on the autogenerated caption for work updates.
But oh boy. Linkedin has changed in ways that are incomprehensible (or rather comprehensible, that’s how I made these observations lmao). You go on Linkedin and all you see is very evident AI written posts talking about something, and you see AI generated comments to those posts. This platform was supposed to be a networking platform, networking for HUMANS. All it is now is just a bunch of bots, talking to other bots.
I see people posting 5 paragraphs about a recent "win" that has an unnecessary amount of detail into it. All posts have the same template. I will now try to rewrite a 5 liner Linkedin post template from memory.
Some over-excited title! ✨
Proud to announce a recent win! I have done blah blah blah and I have blah blah blah along with me team members x, y, z, and this was an awesome and exhilarating experience.
We implemented a, b, c, and understood about blah in detail.
I'm gonna stop myself right here, I think I have the spirit but this sounds too human written to me. However, it sounds close enough, right? It's either this, or some profound life lesson. We've all probably seen those memes about the corporate guy missing his son's birth for some work meeting and boasting about it.
We are not who we are on Linkedin. We may be a fraction of who we are on our private social medias, even though those are curated to be as perfect as possible too, but they depict a personal life, to our close friends and family. On Linkedin, we try to over-corporatize ourselves. It's like we put on a shirt saying:
HEY I'M SUCCESSFUL, HIRE ME!
Everyone on Linkedin is faking it, and no matter what you try to tell yourself in those moments when you open the app and stumble upon some overzealous post that makes you feel lesser than, you must remind yourself that:
- You don’t need to participate in this activity.
- The people whose posts you are reading probably have an inferiority complex issue to some extent as well.
Successful people are smart, but many have an insecurity that they are not smart ENOUGH. Watch this video from the Google I/O 2009 conference talking about this
Let's circle back to how this entry started. Do you know what the uncanny valley is? According to Wikipedia, "It is the region of negative emotional response towards robots that seem almost 'human' ". In this case, you know that none of the posts are written by humans (i.e., AI generated) but you can't prove it.
Linkedin creates this feeling of unease, you feel like a mouse crossing a busy road crossing. What can you do to avoid it? To be honest, mostly nothing. But you can stop involving yourself in this madness by stopping yourself from going on there unless you ABSOULETLY NEED to, and don’t fall for those zip streak notifications.
#2 The Era of Artificially Intelligent Human Beings
Coming soon
#3 When Passion is Taken for Granted
Coming soon
#4 FOMO with AI use
Coming soon
#5 Academic Integrity vs Artificial Intelligence
Coming soon