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Scott Carmichael's avatar

I really enjoyed this post, Jeremy. As a writer, I've been thinking about AI lately, too, and how it will affect the craft of writing. What I have come up with is just that (similar to what you have reasoned also): writing is a craft -- an art form. As clever as AI can string together words in a way that sounds something like good writing, it can't replace a creative human mind who can put together words in a beautiful, complex, and artistic way.

I expect AI will struggle with deeper themes about the human condition, too. So hopefully we're safe for another few years at least!

Thanks for your work, Jeremy! Enjoy it as always!

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Ralph Rice's avatar

Regarding AI and ChatGPT-----

Since retiring I have been taking classes at the local University. I am currently taking a course (one of the two I'm taking) in "Holy War in the Middle Ages." It is hard to explain but it's more than just the Crusades; dealing with the religious philosophy, Christian, Muslim, and Jewish, surrounding the ideas of holy war, martyrdom, and idolatry. We were assigned 14 chapters from Augustine's "City of God" and asked to write an essay on the nature of peace and good, using quotes from the text.

One of my classmates used ChatGPT and showed me the results. Some of the quotes used weren't in the book. And the reference chapters of the quotes were from chapters that didn't exist in the assigned reading. An example was a quote from "Chapter 2" when Chapter 2 wasn't part of the assignment, and that quote didn't exist in Chapter 2 of Book XIX.

When you read the resulting essay, it sounds good to someone who may not have read the assignment. But to a person in an upper level undergraduate history program, it just didn't make sense.

ChatGPT might be good for some things, but other things its just not quite ready for prime time, IMO.

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