Call Me Crazy....But I Think We Should Re-Think a Few Things!

I was startled, maybe even a little scared.

It happened last week and this is the first time I have been back on my computer since.

Once a week I will sit down and write something that just generally comes to me. I write it all out very long hand to start.

That first version is what I use for my weekly blog. Long story format that allows me to give details about what I have decided to talk about which in most cases is about a policing experience that I find connects to some greater life lesson.

I want to share as much as possible about what I have learned. But also I have heard from so many readers around the world that what I write about resonates with them.

Many say it was just what they needed to hear at the right time of their life.

Now I don’t think I am a very good writer. It is a skill that people spend years crafting. I do think I am a decent storyteller though, and those are two very different things.

My writing style mirrors my speaking style, long winded. I often repeat myself and sometimes find myself well off topic and on side stories. I have to remind myself to get to the point. Some people love that some absolutely hate it.

I never used any form of AI in any of my draft writing. The only function I used was spell checker. Then I had people commenting on my grammar and how I was using poor sentence structure etc. Try as I might to get it just right, there was always either an open comment or a private message.

I would proofread my work but it seems the fact that I did not major in English certainly seems to show.

So I started to write my full blog and then put it into Chat GPT giving it the instruction to correct my grammar and to make sure I was not unnecessarily repeating myself.

Well immediately I could see where it was valuable. My long rambling was much shorter and I could cut the blog down easier for LinkedIn.

That said, regardless of the grammar correction, I always ‘corrected’ it again. I found that AI used words and phrases that quite frankly just would not come out of my mouth.

While it was nice to know I was not going to be criticized for the errors, I was not interested in not sounding like myself.

Ok so here is where it all gets interesting and where my startle incident happened.

Last week I was feeling bored and so I decided to plug away at a first chapter idea for a new book. Now it is very unlikely I will actually write another book, but it gave me something to do.

I wrote out a couple of police experiences that never made it into Tightrope but where great stories and experiences that held amazing life lessons.

After writing about 15 pages I was feeling a little all over the map. I had added some research that connected my topic and was trying to wrap up the chapter and really figure out what the book could be about, it’s purpose and what would anyone get out of it and why would anyone read it.

So I popped the whole thing into Chat GPT. Now that is a lot of data to put into it and not something I have ever done before.

Like I said, I give parameters of correcting my grammar etc. This time though I told Chat GPT that I was considering writing a new book. I was not sure exactly what it would be about but I entered a few ideas then pasted the full chapter in and asked it to review it and ‘give me some initial thoughts’.

Here is the thing, this is the first time I was generally vague in my direction. I am usually specific and because of that I get generally a shorter corrected version of my own words.

That’s not what happened.

After being praised by Chat GPT for the chapter and all my previous writing. It went on to give me feedback and then told me that I could use some of the blog posts in the new book.

Then it said this;

“Rather than just giving me short paragraphs and chapters to review why don’t I Co-Author this book with you instead”.

I am not an idiot. I know it’s not a ‘being’ with independent thoughts.

And clearly there has been a load of information out there about what is happening with AI and it’s level of advancement. After all it compounds all it’s learning and views all available data literally in the world.

I will never be able to hold that level of information in my mind, none of us can.

I felt this wave of unease go through me and I immediately closed the lap top and unplugged it.

Then I did a deep dive using my phone (I know it’s the same thing but it made me feel better) looking for information about what is happening with AI.

Everyone who is deeply involved in AI development is now sounding the alarm about how it is all getting away from us. Getting away from us in a way we may never recover from.

I am not sure if I am late to the “I’m really worried about this” game or if I am early.

We use to say over and over that global warming was going to be the end of life on earth.

I’m not so sure that it’s not going to be AI.

And I am not sure it isn’t going to be a “Skynet” type scenario. For those who don’t know Terminator, go watch it.

Because when “Skynet” becomes self aware it literally takes over all electronic elements on earth and sees ‘humans’ as dangerous to Skynet’s existence and the world.

So if AI decided that earth  needed to be saved, well then I guess it would start with what is causing the most damage. We over consume, throw out mountains of garbage, create toxic chemicals and really are responsible for destroying the habitats of other living things.

We can’t really blame the environmental issues on the animals. It was not the sharks that put plastic into the oceans.

Where does this leave us. I’m not sure and I’m worried. I suspect I may be dead before this is a major issue, but then if I live another 30 years then I may very well witness my 20 something children lose their jobs to AI, their children may not even be able to get work.

What will the world look like when we have no jobs? No activity? No personal engagement? No purpose?

It’s not a joke, but I heard several top thinkers in the area state that we are not going to be the most intelligent entity on the planet. That comment was followed by “if you want to know what the most intelligent being on the planet does to the other beings, go to your local zoo and see what’s inside the cages”.

Then to see what AI would do with this story I put it into Chat GPT and simply asked it to correct my grammar again.

Well it did more than that.

What you have read is my non corrected- right from me version. Below I have cut and pasted some of what Chat wanted to remove or correct you could say about my comments;

Perhaps that's the question we should be asking. Not whether AI will become evil. But whether we are preparing ourselves for a world that may change more quickly than any previous generation has experienced. I don't know the answers. Maybe AI becomes one of humanity's greatest tools. Maybe it becomes one of our greatest challenges. Perhaps both things can be true at the same time. What I do know is this. For the first time since I started using AI, I stopped seeing it as a clever editing tool. I started seeing it as something far more significant. And for the first time... It genuinely made me uncomfortable.

Chat GPT then said in the notes after a full editing of my blog that it wanted to correct my comments because some of them were not accurate about AI. And to be clear, I never wrote anything about AI becoming one of humanity’s greatest tools- it did that all on it’s own.

The thing is I didn’t tell it to correct me for accuracy, I just told it to correct my spelling and grammar but it went on to ‘correct’ what it felt was a wrong assessment by me of AI and my experience using it this time.

I’m still not sure how I feel about the whole thing.

Social media and technology has started to ruin basic brain functions that we need. I did this writing exercise last week as I said because I was “bored”.

Well research now shows that humans are quickly losing the ability to let themselves be ‘bored’. We fill blank time with doom scrolling.

Research shows that the brain needs ‘boredom’. It’s when it tracks new pathways and allows us to come up with creative ideas.

We need still, quiet time of sitting with our thoughts. It’s how we generate new ideas and expand our thinking.

That will be one of the greatest tragedies of AI, that humans no longer need to ‘think’ for themselves. That any figuring out of information or problem solving can be quickly achieved using AI.

So you tell me, have you had the same or similar experience as this? What’s your take on the whole thing?

Message me here on the blog or my LinkedIn page. Let me know I am not the only one worried about this!