AI Derangement Syndrome

I don’t use Generative AI to do my creative writing or my thinking about what I should write. I don’t use Generative AI at all! To make my personal stance on AI clear, if you do use Generative AI in those ways, you should burn in Hell! That’s In My Opinion. Putting your name on something AI created is fraud, and it is reprehensible fraud of the worst kind.
I make the above declaration for a reason. Lately I have been calling myself AI Friendly, and I am getting some pushback from both friends and potential publishers. The overriding sentiment seems to be that AI, in all its forms and iterations, is bad, like those two-legged creatures in Animal Farm.
Just the other day, a prominent Florida businesswoman experienced some derisive feedback when part of her commencement message to the students was “the rise of artificial intelligence is the next Industrial Revolution.” Unfortunately, she spoke correctly. But it was a poor choice of words for that particular audience, up-and-coming young writers, artists, musicians, animators, and media students. The graduating students in the audience were generally incensed, and one shouted, “AI sucks!”
As for my stance on AI, I mean what I said in the first paragraph. On the other hand, we certainly should not be telling our math and engineering students that they are crazy or stupid for embracing the greatest tool for research and education the world has ever seen.
Let’s be students of history. The original Industrial Revolution caused a lot of problems, and could never be seen as our finest hours, but most of us would rather live in this century than the last.
The AI Revolution will benefit us all, and profoundly.
I am recommending in advance the book I am about to read: AI for Good, by Josh Tyrangiel. The subtitle is “How Real People are using AI to Fix Things That Matter”.