I am ambivalent towards artificial intelligence.
With the slew of corporate materials I have been writing about artificial intelligence, I thought I should pen down my thoughts too. However chaotic and vacillating they may be.
When ChatGPT became prevalent, I was one of the first to renounce it. Part of it stemmed from my childish pride of being a writer, and part of me declared a strike.
As a former freelance writer, the very existence of generative AI took away my livelihood. Potential employers who were in the midst of discussing the next article for me to work on went silent all of a sudden. A lively WhatsApp chat with a bunch of fellow freelancers turned into a dead one, practically overnight.
The literary arts are gone. Even graphic designers are facing difficulties, with all the retrenchment too.
When I returned to the professional workforce in Singapore after a year away (more about that later), I realised that with the advent of AI, the amount of daily tasks had increased too.
But I was still reluctant to use it.
My former manager encouraged me to have an open mind, and even sent me articles advocating only the pros. I had to keep up with the times, he reminded me.
I tried it. And so began a new world for me.
I can’t deny how AI has enriched my life. Perplexity makes knowledge search easier. ChatGPT and Claude are wonders at content generation. Images I could never draw and code I could hardly understand came to me in an instant. Words are churned out, quickly and beautifully, within seconds.
For a short period of time, I lost my grip on the handle and let AI helm everything. It felt so easy, and rather fascinating, how answers came to me in an instant.
And then I realised that I was losing my craft.
At work too, I reminded myself that human judgement should still be at the centre of it. And thus began my role as an editor, reviewing the work of my new, trusty writer: artificial intelligence.
I write the draft. AI refines it. Then I edit it.
Even with this blog post, I have Claude working right beside me. But I have to keep the sanctity of human creativity intact, and keep my mind taut and sharp.
And then came something even more jarring.
One day, while working on a sustainability report at my former workplace, my colleague pointed out the ramifications of artificial intelligence: water wastage, pollution of natural environments, and the maltreatment of human workers behind building such programmes. Not to mention how the advice AI dispensed had driven some people to suicide.
The list of cons can go on and on. And so can the pros.
Terrifying, isn’t it?
All in all, I see the use of AI in daily tasks as an inevitable movement. The future is changing, and we need to adapt to this ever-developing, dynamic world. While I still harbour such conflicting emotions, I will still continue to use AI. A conundrum? Yes.
But where possible, I will still leave certain things to solely human work.
Ultimately, human judgement should still remain at the centre of all we do. Seek professional, actual human help where AI fails to give it. Take back your agency. Be the driver, not the passenger. AI is a tool, and we must still be the master.
This is not a post advocating the use of AI, nor a post renouncing it. But a post to remind us, or perhaps really to remind myself, that we have to retain our agency.
Disclaimer: Although I used AI in my general pieces, my creative works are still barricaded safely in a temple. But I can’t deny that with the ease of AI, I am slowly losing the urgency, or even the interest, to work on my passion projects. A quick reminder to the growing sloth in my body: wake up soon!
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