A bunch of reasons NOT to use AI

Like Marie, I've been given a bunch or reasons to use AI. Instead of replying, I usually just keep quiet. I don't like to argue, and I'm pretty sure anything I say is going to be contested--maybe even ridiculed. So I'm glad Marie applied her energy to explaining why it's not necessarily a great idea. Here's just one of her 11 different reasons. 

Young Vulgarian: 11 things I hate about AI, 2025-May-9 by Marie Le Conte

Some proponents of generative AI will argue that going back and forth with the computer helps creativity, as opposed to stifling it: as someone who has to be creative a lot of the time, I just don't think it's entirely true. Sometimes you do need to force yourself to do the hard thing a lot of the time, so that you're then able to do the easy thing quicker.

It's also a good habit to pick up, as starting from nothing is, I think, good for the brain. I see it a lot in oil painting, which I started doing last year. There's nothing as horrifying as a blank canvas, but the first steps you take when faced with it are often the most important ones. Which colour should I use to make my wash? What am I mixing to begin with, for that first layer? Am I drawing some outlines in charcoal first, or just vibing it?

By taking these first few decisions, I start building the foundations of whatever project I'm embarking on. It's a different exercise from, say, paint-by-numbers, and there's a reason why one of those is a more respected field than the other.

Today's Young Couples Have Little Room in their Lives for Babies

I worry that people are going to have fewer intergenerational connections than we had in the past. How can that NOT hurt the cultural divide??

Tangle: Would a baby bonus boost the birth rate?, 2025-April-29 by Isaac Saul:

I think there are plenty of good reasons for the government to pursue pro-brith policies, but I don’t think they’ll be effective in encouraging more births — the decreasing fertility rate seems so much deeper than just a financial question. 

This is, in my view, primarily a social and cultural issue: Young Americans live different lives than they did 50 years ago, with different goals, different dreams, and different pursuits. Both parents are often focused on their careers, which diasporizes their family and friend village. On top of that, young Americans have growing numbers of peers who don’t want kids so they can be free to travel, socialize, and pursue their careers without limitations. The upshot is that people on the fence about having kids today feel more societal pressure not to than in years past. 

We’re going to need to turn those cultural pressures around if we want to meaningfully impact fertility rates. 

And ways to have fun with AI

Found via Adam Tinworth's newsletter, One Man & His Blog... 

Om Malik used ChatGPT to (successfully) brainstorm a colour palate for some art. What's notable is the fun he had with the experience:

What surprised me most was not the machine’s intelligence (which is easy enough to marvel at), but the quiet way it handed back a piece of the world. Its palette didn’t describe April in grand terms. Instead, it was poetic and almost literary, taking cues from the light, the soil, and the ordinary shapes of change. In doing so, it reminded me that the season is not something we wait for but something to observe and experience.

Which raises some interesting questions:

You could never have this kind of interactive fun with “search” as we have known it. And that is why, the new way is going to be a problem for Google.

Of course, what makes this work is that Om is looking for ideas not answers. That's the right way to use a guessing machine. 

 

Lots of ways to get in trouble with AI

I confess I haven't read this whole long article, but I find the ending very helpful. My emphasis added in quote below.

The Diff: Thinking-Things-Through Privilege, 2025-April-21 by Byrne Hobart

You can and should use LLMs as a way to refine arguments, identify examples, etc. But getting in the habit of doing that increases the utility of having good judgment about which beliefs and outputs to question. An LLM makes you smarter when you run your own writing through it and ask for weaknesses, but it makes you dumber if you just run every argument you disagree with through the same process instead. Models have reached a level of sophistication, and their moderation has been hobbled enough that they can come up with a cogent case for or against any proposition you can think of, if that's what you ask them to do. And that means that having the habit of asking the right questions, even when it's uncomfortable, is the only hope for being right. 

Asking Better Questions to Connect with People

I've discovered a wonderful method for improving our small talk. I do a lot of business and social networking. 

I find it difficult to connect with new people, unless they are the one asking the great questions. Well, now I have a method for developing better questions! 

READ IT HERE: ClearerThinking.org: How To Create Meaningful Connections By Asking Great Questions, 2025-Mar-24 by Sara Ness