I’m Bored with AI and I Like It

Summer has always been a special time for me and my family. Growing up in a small upstate New York town that barely saw sunlight nine months out of the year, the summer was the time I lived for. As soon as school was out, we were in the lake playing, and summer camp was usually an endless stream of local dance classes from sunrise to sunset. Some people went on vacation during the summer, but for us, vacation was simply staying put and experiencing the fleeting beauty that would last a mere ten weeks. My mother was a teacher and always thought that it was important for us to take a break from the rigors of school and focus on one thing: play.

As an adult, summer is still my favorite time of the year. I love the heat, being near any body of water, a good book, mocktails, sundresses, flip-flops, jigsaw puzzles, and time to let my mind wander. And for the past two weeks, I have been doing just that—sleeping in, catching up with friends and family, and flirting with boredom.

That’s right. I’m bored with AI and I like it.

The Science of Boredom

Boredom, scientifically, is a state of wanting to engage in satisfying activities but finding none. It occurs when our attention systems fail to find something engaging, leading to a feeling of restlessness and dissatisfaction. While often seen as negative, boredom can actually be a catalyst for positive change.

Creativity Boost

When we’re bored, our minds are not preoccupied with external stimuli, which allows them to wander. This mind-wandering is fertile ground for creativity. Studies have shown that people who are bored are better at generating creative ideas and solutions. The brain, in its search for stimulation, starts connecting seemingly unrelated concepts, leading to innovative thoughts and problem-solving strategies.

Self-Reflection

Boredom provides a rare opportunity for introspection. Without the constant barrage of distractions, we have the chance to reflect on our goals, values, and life direction. This self-reflection can lead to personal growth, as it helps us understand our desires and motivations more clearly. It allows us to reassess our priorities and make adjustments to align our actions with our true aspirations.

Motivation for Change

The discomfort of boredom can act as a powerful motivator for change. It pushes us to seek new experiences and challenges, driving us to break out of our routines and try new things. This drive for novelty can lead to the discovery of new passions and interests that we might not have explored otherwise. Boredom, in this sense, is not just a void to be filled but a nudge towards growth and development.

Mental Rest and Recharging

In today’s fast-paced world, our brains are constantly bombarded with information and stimuli. Boredom can offer a much-needed break, giving our brains a chance to rest and recharge. This downtime is essential for mental health, helping to reduce stress and improve overall well-being. By allowing ourselves to be bored, we can return to our tasks with renewed focus and energy.

Improved Attention and Focus

Experiencing boredom can help improve our attention and focus. When we resist the urge to immediately seek entertainment or distraction, we train our minds to be more patient and attentive. This enhanced focus can be beneficial in many areas of life, from work to personal relationships, as it allows us to be more present and engaged.

Machines Do Not Grow Bored

Boredom is a human experience and it reminds us that we are not machines. Over the past two years, the pace of change—or rather, the pace of news—has been frenetic. Every week there are hundreds of news stories about companies opening and closing, markets rising and falling, features developing and disappointing, all orbiting around two letters: AI. We keep waiting for the hype to clear, for the reality to settle in, for the trough of disillusionment to come. But instead, we are experiencing a waterfall of technology that is powering a constant stream of change.

And every time a new feature is announced, a new app is released, a new lawsuit is filed, a new founders’ drama is revealed, our brains are injected with that all too familiar dopamine reward. But I’m starting to see the patterns in the data. New features get filed in existing file boxes. What happened with images is now happening with video. The same concerns about copyright that we faced with images are now coming up with music. There is friction, but never any resolution to the conflict—just a series of parallel conversations. There is a plethora of content, but very little that I find interesting. Very little that I find meaningful. Mostly noise.

Boring.

And that’s when I know it’s about to get interesting. It's not you, AI. It's me.

Five Questions to Ask of Boredom

Once I broke the AI dopamine loop, I was able to ask myself some important questions to help guide the next phase of my own development with Generative AI (which I will henceforth abbreviate as AI).

What Do I Appreciate?

ChatGPT and Midjourney have become a fully integrated part of my daily workflows to the point that it now seems natural and normal to carry on a conversation with a stochastic machine as part of my daily life. I have built two custom GPTs that I use on a regular basis. One is a Scheduler, which is connected to my Google Calendar via API and allows me to plan out my day between scheduled and unscheduled events. I use this daily, often with voice activation as I'm walking outside enjoying the weather. The other is a Celebration Assistant, which I use weekly to reflect on the past week's accomplishments. It's helped me remember to be grateful even during times that are challenging and helps me reframe setbacks in a positive light.

My writing process has also changed. I used to write in a notes file and then go back and forth with ChatGPT or Claude to write. These days, I begin the entire writing process within a multimodal LLM environment. My process meanders between brainstorming, researching, questioning, writing, and editing. I illustrate most of my Newsletters with Midjourney and have gotten the process down so that I begin with the theme of the essay, explore the model with the chaos turned up high to find a style, and then use that style to generate a series of images that coordinate.

ChatGPT, You(.com) or Perplexity have almost completely replaced search for me. Now when I go to Google, I more likely than not already have a lead. I have used it in the past week to find and negotiate new insurance policies, figure out what kind of batteries I need to replace in my heart rate monitor by just showing it a picture, explore Quantum Social Science theory by running quantum equations on the impact of the US election on middle east policy. From the mundane to the sublime, there is not a thing that I don't use AI to help me figure out.

What Am I Still Curious About?

These days, I'm most curious about AI in music. In part because I have been writing a musical for the past three years and it's helped me move through some significant roadblocks in the process, namely needing a sound engineer and a production studio to record demos of my songs. Over the past few months, I've produced three of my songs using Suno and this month, I'm working on a fourth, for which I've trained an AI model on my own voice, which I can swap in to any song I've written.

I bit the bullet and invested in a Digital Audio Workstation (DAW). I used ChatGPT to help me evaluate Logic Pro and Ableton, two of the leading competitors. I decided on Logic Pro and I've been teaching myself to use it using ChatGPT to guide me through the process. It has made the learning process a lot less daunting because I can simply ask the question I have, such as "How do I fix the vocals to make the consonants clearer?" or "How do I make this sound like it's been recorded in a cave?"

I have connected with a group of like-minded musicians on LinkedIn, the same way I did when I was learning image generators, and I've learned of over a dozen different tools and begun exploring each one. Like images and videos, the music rabbit hole is endless and I love being in there with the other curious ones.

What Has Pleasantly Surprised Me?

I haven't minced words about my disappointment with both Microsoft and Google in their respective Generative AI integrations into their core products. I've tested them periodically over the past year and each time have been met with disappointment, but recently I had a breakthrough. I'm working on a new executive education program for a university and I had a Google Doc completed with all the requisite material. My client had made comments and so after picking up the comments, I used Gemini to do a final review before I sent it off.

Surprisingly, the comments were substantive and helpful! It did an excellent job of digesting the program comprehensively and giving me both positive feedback and recommendations. The recommendations helped me take the program to the next level and flush out all the details. I'm really proud of the work WE did. I appreciated that it was a parallel conversation and that it was up to me to decide what advice to incorporate into the final draft. If you haven't tried it, now is the time to give it a shot!

I'm equally hopeful about Microsoft, who just released a new paper about a strategy for compressing spreadsheet data so that it does not eat up your token limit and allows you to truly engage in a conversation with your data, which is what so many of us have been clamouring to do. The release is not out yet, but I'll be on the lookout!

What Still Utterly Confuses Me?

As I've shared with many of you, I had high hopes of learning Stable Diffusion this summer, but got frustrated with the teaching methodology (or lack thereof) of the course I enrolled in. But I'm determined to figure out how to be more "hacky" with AI. Truth be told, the web applications are so good and the models behind these web apps so robust, that the idea of programming an application seems like a waste of energy. However, I don't feel comfortable not knowing things that are knowable.

Open Source, Hugging Face, GitHub - this is a world I find utterly confusing and the hardest part is knowing where to start. I know there are plenty of online and free resources. And many of you readers are way ahead of me here, so feel free to share your recommendations and advice. I'll probably be asking a lot of questions as I seek to understand well enough to do some things and teach what I've learned.

I'm not afraid to admit, I need help!

What Is Challenging Me?

Which leads me to the challenging parts of AI. Technical things are not challenging. Human things are. This fall, the US heads into a major election with one candidate many of us find unsavory, and the recent opportunity for the Democrats to choose their strongest contender. I don't love politics, but I do believe that creativity is governed by rules and that the regulations (or absence of regulations) in AI will shape the future of investment, development, and utilization of AI.

Last year I spent some time diving deep into copyright and this year I plan to spend some Newsletter space looking at some bipartisan ways we can navigate AI policy regardless of who lands in the White House.

Look Mom, I'm Not Bored Anymore!

See what just happened? Two weeks of clearing the mind; two weeks of being bored; five targeted questions, and I think I'm back to being excited about AI again. And I hope you are too! Boredom, this human trait, often seen as a flaw, is actually a profound strength. It drives us to innovate, grow, and seek deeper meaning in our lives.

In the relentless stream of AI advancements and news, it can be easy to get caught up in the excitement and novelty. However, it’s essential to remember that meaningful progress often comes from moments of boredom. These moments allow us to step back, see the bigger picture, and think creatively about how to address the underlying issues and challenges.

As we move through the summer, my wish for everyone is to experience some boredom. It’s what we desperately need to make good use of the technology that will still be there at the end of the summer. Embrace these moments of quiet, let your mind wander, and see where it leads you.

I’d love to hear about your own experiences with boredom and creativity. How do you use your downtime to explore new ideas? Share your stories and let’s inspire each other to make the most of our moments of boredom.

I'm Lori Mazor. I teach AI with a Human Touch.? I'm reinventing how we educate, strategize, and build the future one article at a time. If you enjoy this newsletter.

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