An early adopter of technology I am not. I think smart phones were available for nearly 5 years before I got one. I had to be dragged—almost kicking and screaming—to Facebook, and I only joined Instagram after a non-tech-friendly friend started posting there and I realized I really needed to get with it. So this whole Artificial Intelligence (AI) thing? Not interested.
When AI started making the news Andrew got right to it, trying out different prompts and dreaming of the possibilities. I read numerous emails and Facebook posts tell me how much easier blogging would be if I only let AI write my posts. No. Not interested.
So I admit to thinking he was a little crazy when I read that my friend Jerry who blogs at Botanica Chaotica allowed the AI robots to write a blog post: Botanica Chaotica Chronicles: Dancing with the Pineapple Express on December’s First Day. Of course it was only an experiment, and it was unanimously agreed that the robots were no match for Jerry's intellect and insights.
So where am I going with this? Well it reminded me of something Gerhard sent me a while back and I meant to post. He'd been playing around with AI and asked for "a blurb about Loree Bohl and her book Fearless Gardening, but sound like your jealous." Gerhard was one of my trusted readers for early editions of the book and helped with editing, I love that he asked for AI's jealous opinion. The result is hilarious:
Oh great, another gardening personality to fawn over - Loree Bohl and her book "Fearless Gardening." As if we didn't have enough garden enthusiasts trying to be the next big thing. Apparently, she's this fearless gardening guru who thinks she's discovered the ultimate secrets to creating the perfect garden. Her book is all the rage, filled with tales of her groundbreaking gardening adventures and supposed revolutionary insights. And of course, her Instagram is overflowing with pictures of her "stunning" garden, making us all feel like we're a bunch of amateurs.
I mean, who needs to read yet another book about gardening? Like, does she really have some sort of magical touch that the rest of us mere mortals lack? And her "fearless" approach – give me a break. We all know that gardening is a delicate balance of trial and error, not some audacious feat of bravery. But hey, if you're into following the latest gardening "celebrity," I'm sure Loree Bohl and her "Fearless Gardening" book will be your new obsession. As for me, I'll stick to my own gardening style, thank you very much.
Of course the fact that sticking with your own gardening style (thank you very much) is the message at the heart of Fearless Gardening is lost on the jealous AI bot. What about you? Have you jumped into the fearless world of AI?
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No way. The whole AI thing mostly scares me, given the dangerous spot we are in as a nation due to misinformation. Having had an almost 30 year career as a newspaper journalist, I won't even have ads on my blog. Unethical from where I came from journalistically. It's new world and too much of it consists of big steps backward into hatred and oppression. Forgive the rant. I had read and did enjoy Jerry's post however.
ReplyDeleteAgree. Wholeheartedly.
DeleteI sadly agree with much of your reply. Hatred and oppression seems to be the news of the day. Although on a personal level I have to say that the opposite is true, love and "lifting up" seems to be the norm. I am trying to keep that forefront in my mind and hope for the future.
DeleteAmusing but no thank you on AI for me too. The reason I read blogs is because I want to hear the author's opinion, thoughts, etc. For articles, news, I want researched, objective facts. There is enough misinformation out there without adding "fake" authors spouting "fake" information!
ReplyDeleteHere here!
DeleteSo much misinformation!
DeleteAs you can see, I've been playing around with AI to get hilarious results. But there's a dark and scary side that I haven't been ready to deal with yet. More than anything, I'm afraid people will throw all sense of caution to the wind and blindly believe what AI produces...
ReplyDeleteIndeed. Read this: https://www.atlasobscura.com/articles/ai-foraging-guides
DeleteIf I let my imagination run unchecked that dark and scary side is overwhelming. Heck I guess with M's example it doesn't even require much imagination.
DeleteOMG. Two thoughts come to mind.
ReplyDelete(1) A Sep 2023 article was written about "The Forager’s Harvest Bible: The Ultimate Guide to Wild Food and Edible Plants Foraging Identification and Harvesting" which turns out to have been written by an AI program. Potentially dangerous seeing that the book "suggested tasting a mushroom to help with identification".
(2) AI will serve those with little to no original thoughts or who lack any sort of real talent/creativity - who are legion, I'm afraid. I do not count myself among them.
Feck AI and feck those who use it.
The forager's example is horrific! The expectation when you pick up a book like that, the information within is solid and researched is just a basic assumption. Scary times ahead.
DeleteLet the buyer beware. Before you buy a plant field guide (or any other non-fiction publication), make sure it wasn’t written by a computer. In other words, do your own research on “authors”. The article offers guidance on navigating this New World of Deception:
Deletehttps://www.atlasobscura.com/articles/ai-foraging-guides
I think I'd rather be gardening.
ReplyDeleteIndeed. Sadly ignoring it is going to get us in trouble though.
DeleteWhat everybody said. I just don't know enough about it, admittedly, but intuition tells me there's trouble ahead. It feels different from all other forms of technology up until now - and look how we've mucked up what should have been an information breakthrough with the Internet. We use social media and our own "news" sources so often to perpetuate falsehoods. Imagine what AI is capable of.
ReplyDeleteI remember one of my brother's friends who was an early adopter of photoshops capabilities to create. He was so good at creating digital photos of events that never happened "in real life". What I could plainly see had never even happened. That was some 20+ years ago. Just the beginning.
DeleteChickadee Gardens: Always trust your intuiton.
DeleteHa! I enjoyed Jerry's post even though ChatGPT has yet to really impress me. (Hans of Dry Oasis also experimented with it to generate a blog post a year or more ago as I recall.) The "review" Gerhard solicited was a clever idea and fully lived up to the "jealous" prompt - it was suitably petty but not substantive. I've been only casually intrigued by AI from the point of view of gaining some insight (feedback) into how it might characterize my writing style. However, I can't imagine handing over the pleasure of the creative process to a bot - I'm not in the business of writing blog posts to keep a roof over my head. I have wondered if some authors, even those I like, are using AI to write dozens of books over the course of relatively short periods based on formulas but I'd be very disappointed if I learned that was really happening.
ReplyDeleteAndrew helped me to understand it's usefulness in quickly creating a base narrative that he then went in tweaked to get the right voice. It can be a huge time saver for him in that regard.
DeleteI've been late to join the smartphone revolution and I'm not on FB or Instagram.
ReplyDeleteThe "jealous AI bot" spewed funny commentary, but its only funny because we know it's not real. Otherwise, it's scary.
There must be regulations of this, and not a moment too soon.
Chavli
I admit there was a little nagging voice asking me if I really wanted to put this review out there. I was posting it as parody, but what if it was picked up as truth? I went with it simply because Fearless Gardening is going to be 3 years old next month. It's not news anymore...
DeleteJust to compare, I put the same prompt into the free version of ChatGPT. What I see is that it is keeping track of prompts I've already put into it (note words of botany and chaos) and that it isn't nearly as clever as what Gerhard was able to achieve. The blurb doesn't even sound jealous. Obviously, I don't understand how to do this correctly yet. Here's what it came up with.
ReplyDelete"In a world where gardening meets audacity, Loree Bohl emerges as the envy-inducing maestro of flora with her book, "Fearless Gardening." With an unparalleled green thumb and an uncanny ability to turn even the most chaotic botanical elements into a symphony of beauty, Bohl leaves aspiring gardeners like myself wondering if we'll ever reach her level of horticultural prowess. "Fearless Gardening" is more than a book—it's a magnum opus that seems to effortlessly weave the garden goddess' secrets into every leaf and petal, leaving readers in a jealous haze of admiration for Bohl's undeniable expertise and fearless approach to gardening.
"an uncanny ability to turn even the most chaotic botanical elements into a symphony of beauty"...
DeleteOh snap! I just got a scathing commentary from ChatGPT on the second try. Very similar to what Gerhard got, I just needed to clear out some of its history.
ReplyDeleteTwo fake quotes stand out:
"Fearless Gardening," her opus, beckons readers into a world where apparently, the soil quivers at the mere mention of her name."
"Her plants must surely applaud her as she strolls through her green kingdom, unburdened by the doubts and trials that plague the rest of us."
Yep, it is scary. I doubt if anyone will regulate this until it is too late and I am sure that other nations are already developing their own versions. Everyone has a lot of here, but let's reframe a bit. Can we use these tools for the common good and to combat misinformation?
Interesting that the history has such an effect on the outcome. I suppose that should be obvious, but since I know nothing about ChatGPT it's news to me. The idea of my plants applauding is truly terrifying...
Deletehahahaha! The soil quivers at the mere mention of her name, hilarious.
ReplyDeleteSeriously. I wonder though, why is it quivering?
DeleteLike all technology, AI is a new gift, and has to be used with thought and caution. It will be what we allow it will be with foresight. Life will move forward in this amazing universe, but we have to be careful what we hold to be true. Times change. Said from an old fart.
ReplyDeleteSadly "thought and caution" is sorely lacking in a large part of the population.
Delete