How AI Got Me Fired As A Writer

(I have used this quote many times before, but for sake of humor, I will include it:

"There are only two things that are infinite: human stupidity and the universe, and I am still not very sure about the latter." - Albert Einstein

On a more serious note, you are probably here because the headline pulled you in. I get it, I am a wizard of words and a lyrical concoction of controversy.

Yada, yada, yada.

Well, you will not be disappointed.

"I'll Be Back"

Let us all recall the last time we saw the movie: "Terminator II." Sarah Connor falls asleep and is shown shaking a barbed wire fence rather dramatically.

Yes, in slow motion. Cool!

She is watching her son, as well as a version of her "other" self, playing in a sand hill when suddenly, the sky lights up in a brilliant and pragmatic spark of cinder.

Then we see it: the mushroom cloud ominously rising.

"...and the people just looked like piles of burnt leaves being blown apart..."

- Sarah Connor

Now, fast forward around 32 years and...well, I guess I was wrong. I had this crazy presumption that people had seen the movie, almost like a warning.

In other words, I thought we would learn something from such a terrifying scene.

So, Chat GPT Shut Me The F**k Down

"Pardon my French, my dear, but quite frankly, I don't give a damn" - Casablanca

In a short 6 month period since it took off (partially influenced by the media, but politics aside), I have had the darndest trouble finding work as a writer.

And I think I know why. AI, despite my former predictions in over 15 of my articles on this newsletter, actually did it.

(For reference, I'll link to them here)

Article 1

Article 2

Article 3

This should show you I was not lying when I warned us this was coming.

Since those articles, it evolved, culminated as a seemingly useful tool, and in a short epoch of time, it has taken over to the point where AI can write; AI can create art; AI can create movies...and scariest of them all: AI is all we talk about.

The average person says around 160,000 words per day.

I would estimate that around 5,000 of those words somehow involve that of "AI."

Such a simple word with so much chronic danger lurking with every silent step it makes. It is not going away, it is getting smarter, and it took my job!

It Can Write Like Me

Go to chat.openai.com, sign up for an account, and type in: "Write a blog about marketing. Write it like Ryan W. McClellan the author" and it will write like me.

I'm sure you know this already, but if AI can write better than I can, even I would use it if I did not enjoy the process so much.

In turn, ladies and gentlemen of LinkedIn, this is how Accountants must have felt when Quicken was launched.

So, all we can do it move on. Yep, that is the entire story. ChatGPT launches and I suddenly have no incoming inbound leads, and even the outbound ones are "not in need of writing." That never happens...until this past 6-month period.

Join Me, Won't You?

"Chandler. are you freaking out?"

"Mm-hmm, join me, won't you?!"

-Friends

That is my last quote, I swear.

Case and point, however, this happens all of the time.

Throughout history, there have been endless advancements in technology and innovations that laid people off.

Recall the self-checkout system that was first installed in the early 90s (it was called "Piggly Wiggly" - I am not joking, look it up).

Everybody thought hundreds of thousands of cashiers would lose their jobs. Then, in some miraculous manner, it actually created 100,000+ new jobs.

Why?

I am glad you asked.

It turns out they are not very smart. Publix, as an example, employs an average of 96,000 cashiers across the nation who have one sole purpose: lurk around the self-checkout vestibule and when the machine screws up, fix it for the customer.

(Typically they walk over, push a button, scan a card, and walk away. Yes, even now, there are tons of cashiers still with jobs, because people just don't want to bag their own groceries. So, is this the case with AI?)

But We Can Adapt

I admit, I am typically a very pessimistic person. I find good in humankind, and this past year has left both myself and millions of Americans challenged and frustrated. The dawn of AI seems frightening, but then again, it is not that smart.

Example: yes, AI can make videos for you with just text. It will preload stock images and overlay it with text, and then somehow narrate it in a human voice.

But when you do this, all the "bot" is doing is pulling stock images offline. In fact, I tried this for a YouTube video, and I noticed half of the images used had the "iStock" watermark on them. Yeah, AI is "smart," but not smart enough.

So, what can we do?

We can adapt.

How To Adapt

Rather than looking at AI as a replacement for writers, as is my case, I am looking at it as a research tool. Example: ChatGPT does more than just write your son's essays or your daughter's college dissertation (or, in some cases, your resume).

It also acts as a rather advanced Google search, and though I could easily cheat, type in: "Write a 1000-word LinkedIn article on how AI is replacing writing," copy and paste, and be done, I would prefer taking an hour to write this myself.

So, we can only do two things at this point:

1) We can assume the worst, or,

2) We can learn that this is coming, so why not know it?

I had a professor during my last semester at FIU.

This was when ChatGPT fully dawned, virally directive of the mass media. He said quite simply to the class (and I swear, this is the smartest man alive):

"AI is here. If you want to use ChatGPT, just let us know. If you don't let us know, we will find out and you will be reported. I actually urge you all to write two of your weekly assignments using ChatGPT; just make sure we know it."

-Anthony Miyazaki

In other words, this is here to stay.

Returning To "Terminator II"

As stated, I figured we would take technological advancement rather seriously after "i Robot," "The Terminator" series, and even "Minority Report" had glimmers of potential intelligence stemming from machines.

In "Terminator II," the term used most sufficiently was: "the machines are self-aware." In other words, they can think for themselves...

But we have to realize something from a neurological perspective: AI is not "thinking" for you; it is not equipped with the circuitry we have.

Think of your brain as a computer program. Much like in "The Matrix," AI runs on a series of "0s" and "1s," i.e. binary code. At its core, it is told to perform massive amounts of research in a quick period of time.

But we have a brain that, despite the 50+ years they have been working on artificial life, can outpower and outthink (and outwrite) a machine.

Thus, my honest input is that there is never going to be a time when machines are "self-aware." And even so, there are ways to avoid this.

Sorry, I am going to bring up one last movie, "Jurassic Park."

To keep the dinosaurs from escaping or killing people, they coded into the dinosaurs' DNA modalities a lysine-deficient gene.

This means that in the event that lysine were to be released into the air (it would be harmless to any humans, as we are lysine-compliant), the dinosaurs would die.

Safeguards In AI

Thus, one regulation we require is a safeguard such as this. At the end of the day, AI (even the robots currently being built in Japan) is code, and code can be added to deactivate the machine in the event of "self-awareness."

And please do not comment back with:

"What if the machine is able to turn off this code?"

That is a question I am sure is already being addressed, and yes, AI is being regulated by the United States government.

In fact, Geoffrey Hinton, who was in charge of AI development at Google, resigned, saying:

"It was scaring me how far they were trying to take this thing."

He is now speaking of the dangers of AI, and is actively seeking out Senators and Congressmen to support a bill to regulate, if not completely end, the dawn of AI.

What Do You Think?

So, I've rambled on for 2,000 words. What do you think? Is AI the "next big thing," or is it going to fade away like cryptocurrency did?

I want your opinion. In the meantime, be sure to subscribe and share this.

"Nothing is more dangerous than sincere incompetence and conscientious stupidity" - Martin Luther King, Junior

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