Doing the Work - AI & Easy Ways Out
Introduction
Artificial intelligence (AI) is not a new thing, and it has come to mark the next step of automation. It has left the offices and factories of the specialists and entered into the mainstream. With easy and available public access we will in the coming years see both the best and the worst it has to offer. With the improvement and popularisation of new tools available for free to all AI has come to create some controversy within the realm of art. It now influences several spheres of artistic expression, including but not limited to: writing, visual arts, music, video and much more content creation. Everywhere I go I’m told how easy and beneficial AI is and how it makes our lives so much simpler. While there are a lot of different aspects surrounding AI to discuss - today we’re going to be focusing on this: the alleged shortcuts it provides us with.
Wanting an easy way out is inherently human it seems. Our entire history and culture can be summed up as much. It has been a long and arduous process to make life not only more manageable but easier in a way. The agricultural revolution allowed us to settle down and spend less energy and time foraging and travelling. Since then major breakthroughs in science and invention have allowed for a safer and easier life. It has brought comfort and security globally and now billions of us exist, still trying to make our own lives and the lives of our offspring easier and safer. While the intentions are good and well, we’ve now come to associate laziness with intelligence and effectiveness quoting Bill Gates:
“I choose a lazy person to do a hard job. Because a lazy person will find an easy way to do it.”
There is something to be said about the dangers of comfort, however. There was a biology experiment conducted where trees were grown in different environments simulating real biomes. Some trees were grown in ideal conditions, and others in harsher climates. While the ones grown in comfort and with the ideal conditions thrived, the others struggled. However, what quickly became apparent was that when these trees were planted out into the real world, the ones living under stimulated harsher conditions quickly acclimated and survived a lot better. The ones who had been living in comfort now taken out of their shelter struggled to survive and most of these trees eventually died. Anyone interested in gardening knows this is true, when growing plants like tomatoes from seed they will thrive and grow easily indoors but before being planted outside they need to be acclimated. Simulating wind with a fan or an open window strengthens their stems, so they don’t break when they’re outside. The same can be said for the human spirit. We are biological creatures after all, and we adapt to our environments, and all our comfort has hurt us in some aspects. With all the good that automation has brought us today, we’re looking at some of the potential downsides, and why shortcuts sometimes turn into longcuts.
The Artificial Shortcut to Creative Intelligence
AI has become a way to ease the workload, we see it everywhere. People tell you that if you can’t write, paint or create you can just have AI do it for you. Even if you can there’s no reason why you shouldn’t have it come up with ideas for you. There seems to be this idea that finally the “creative block” has been solved - and that humanity will never again struggle creatively. Art is now finally easy, and it’s become easily accessible to everyone. This new tool will open up the floodgates and everyone will finally be able to adequately express themselves. Whatever you imagine you can now manifest it through the use of AI. You won’t have to pay photographers, designers or writers again - all you will need is now at the tip of your fingers.
There will be no need to attend universities. While getting an art degree was already a waste of money now it’s a waste of time as well. The best part is of course the get-rich-quick schemes that AI allows - because at long last the 99% will break free from the spell of the higher-ups. Everyone can be an entrepreneur and a business leader, with AI you can now make amazing t-shirt designs, you can create a business without any prior knowledge and you can of course use artificial intelligence as your law advisor - the most competent lawyer stands no chance against the compiled knowledge of the internet. It’s all so easy now with AI and you’re frankly an idiot if you don’t realise it - don’t you see that you’re missing out on the opportunity of a lifetime? You can have it write you bestsellers, create masterpieces and even make money on YouTube and social media with engaging and creative content! You don’t even have to do any of the work all these other idiots have been doing - you just have to ask ChatGPT. The best and most reliable worker you could ask for. AI will never take sick days, it will never not work and you don’t have to give it a holiday bonus. You don’t need programmers to create your apps, you don’t need designers or anyone - all you need is human investors because that’s the only thing AI can’t generate for your lucrative business. The rest it can do.
As delusional and mind-rotting as that sounds, it’s unfortunately how many people currently view the world. Trans-humanism and some sort of anarchic capitalism are ideologies that have been growing in the minds of some, and these egregores have now become manifested monstrosities that walk the earth. But what really happens to us when we think we can take these shortcuts to success and money? What we soon find is that as easy as it comes it leaves just as easily. The harder you work for something the longer it will last, I’ve found this to be true for all things in my life. Some of these methods may well work but it’s incredibly short-sighted and while we don’t have the hindsight yet the results will speak for themselves in some years. Because what happens when you stop doing the work is that your muscles deteriorate. This is true for physical as well as mental muscles. Since we settled down in cities several thousands of years ago we have seen a decline in our eyesight, and our physical organs continue to deteriorate due to our lifestyles. Comfort might be safer but it makes you weaker. Diseases like cancer and diabetes are running rampant in today’s world. Our diets have gotten worse with easy access to sugars and with a lack of physical labour we’ve gotten physically weaker than our ancestors. Not all is bad of course - just some hundred years ago dental healthcare was horrible, largely because of fine stones being ground into flour, and overall people live longer lives. Because physical labour can also induce a bunch of health issues. There are two sides to both, but for now, we’ll focus on the negatives of comfort.
Comfort and the Deterioration of Muscles
Muscles must be used to maintain, this applies to physical and mental muscles. All your skills are like muscles, and they must be trained and then used to be maintained. If you don’t use your skills they will deteriorate over time. While AI has a lot of inherent problems like environmental and energy issues, copyright infringement and just being bad and misinformed a lot of the time - the biggest problem I see is people’s willingness to not want to develop and use their skills. I think automation has some good ideas, with the purpose being to make chores and tedious tasks easier, but creativity is not one of those tasks.
I see people who write blogs and social media posts use chatGPT maybe not to write their entire thing but to get ideas, and I see students using it to help them with not only homework but theses and exams as well. All of this accumulates and highlights the fact that people don’t want to do the work - which I think begs the question of why they would want to do it in the first place. I understand people have reasons to study things they don’t like, like external pressure or the necessity to work with something they’re passionate about etc. But what will become of these people who will go on to become professionals in their fields and whose skills will rely solely on the tools they have? One has to understand that this isn’t the same as the introduction of the calculator or even the computer because these tools still require more thought processes and mental navigation to use and to do so properly. The idea that “you have to be good to use AI” and that it takes skill to find the right keywords and formatting is silly. Proof of this is to give a person who has never used a computer before and watch them navigate and use it, versus having somebody who has never talked to chatGPT have them do it. If you speak English you can use AI, the same isn’t true for calculators and computers. AI isn’t all bad however, it brings a lot of good with it and ultimately it is a tool, and it’s the user that determines the morals and ethics of it.
AI allows people to complement skills they lack, if you’re a programmer who lacks design skills then you can use AI to help you with that or vice versa. I believe this is a good thing and we will see more independent creatives and artists be able to create more ambitious projects. With this, we could also see the death of the polymath - because there will be less of an incentive to learn different things, and our society has since the industrial revolution ever been moving towards specialisation. The rise of AI could be the next step in that process as well. Multidisciplinary creativity is something good, however, and it gives way to new ideas and cross-pollination of expression. Limiting your creativity or intelligence to one thing may hinder your growth in that area, and developing multiple skills allows for new perspectives. The programmer in the previous example might find themselves not only enjoying design but also developing new ideas for their programming by exercising their design muscle. Multidiscipline is a more holistic approach to creativity, and this is something that can be damaged by AI.
The use of AI is everywhere, it’s in advertisements, in online content and has even reached governments and official businesses. While we might think of it as a quick way to get work done, we should be conscious so it doesn’t make us too comfortable. The boring part of your job, like writing a text for your social media could be something that is both enjoyable and meaningful. It depends on how you approach it and your attitude towards it. This brings us to the final part and this is ultimately a question you will have to answer yourself. What is your reason for doing the work?
Your Reason for Doing the Work
It’s only with reason and purpose you can find true enjoyment out of tedious tasks. If you do something with intent it becomes not only easier but more enjoyable. Sometimes doing tedious tasks it’s enough to have the end result, and if that’s your goal: to just get there as quickly as possible, then AI may present a good opportunity. If your goal is to become more knowledgeable, and skilled and grow as a person then AI is not the answer. Take on a new hobby instead of giving it to the machine - it doesn’t have to be profitable and it doesn’t have to be a career, it can be something you just do. This is the biggest qualm with AI the way I see it. Because everyone is worried that it’s going to take away all our arts, our hobbies and so forth but it’s not true. What are we going to do when all is automated?
Automation should liberate us to give us more free time to do the things we love and enjoy, and art, expression and creativity has always been part of that for humanity and always will be. We’re not going to stop writing, painting or dancing just because a robot can do it or because an algorithm can find the perfect way to move - none of that can extinguish the flame in the spirit of humanity. Our reason for doing the work is sometimes just that - it’s that passion and love for the craft itself. If your reason for doing the work is just that you will never want to use AI. Don’t be afraid of challenges, even when you meet hinders and blocks on your way, you will develop the strength to push through. If you use your muscles and not let them deteriorate. Use your mind, use your body and don’t become too comfortable. Pray not for an easy burden but a strong back. Find your reason for doing the work.
Let that drive you. Don’t let external pressure and hustle culture tell you how things need to be done and at what pace, don’t compete with the artificial and instead strive to be as human as possible. It’s flawed but it’s beautiful in it’s own messed up way. The things you do don’t have to be perfect, and the more you do it the better it will be. Machines and numbers can never breathe spirit into the things they create - in fact they can’t create they only generate based on existing things. They can make but never create. Creation is something special, something living and something which is an extension of the creator - something reserved to living intelligence. Don’t take too many shortcuts, work for what you want and you will earn it. This victory is the sweetest and the only one that lasts.
There are some easy ways but easy comes, easy goes.
