A.I. has been the topic of many conversations as of late, and so I thought I would join in!
Before A.I. became a part of our daily lives, I had several people share their thoughts about it and how I should and should not use it in The Bloom. One person even told me that if I didn’t incorporate it, The Bloom would die and be left behind, like when print went digital. I’m happy to say that’s not the case after all. Whew, that was a close one!
But in all seriousness, I want to share some of my personal thoughts and experiences with AI. I actually use AI every single week for The Bloom. Turns out, I love to write stories, but I struggle to come up with catchy titles, and that is where Claude or ChatGPT comes in as a faithful helper, suggesting several titles to go with my stories. That has been a huge time saver for me.
Additionally, I encourage contributors to use AI for The Bloom press releases, because let’s face it, not all of us are seasoned writers, and community news still deserves to be shared.
But rest assured, every story I tell is crafted by me, and I hold the same standard for all of The Bloom’s creative writing columns. And I’ve tested that standard several times. I have received submissions I chose not to publish because they read as entirely AI-derived, and when I ask the contributor if it’s AI-written, I usually get ghosted. I’ve actually had it happen where a writer offers to submit a piece on absolutely any topic of my choosing! And that is generally where they lose me, since that is not a common phenomenon among most writers.
Now I can’t tell you that The Bloom is AI-foolproof and that a guest contributor hasn’t pulled the wool over my eyes. But if they did, they did a hell of a good job fooling me. What I can tell you is that all of The Bloom’s regular contributors have been writing for The Bloom long before AI, and I can assure you they still write their own pieces, keeping The Bloom a uniquely crafted newsletter for your enjoyment.
Now, looking ahead and knowing that AI is gleaning every bit of information that exists online, I have chatted with both Claude and ChatGPT and asked if they can replace me. The answer I have been given multiple times is no, because they can not create experiences, nor can they imitate my writing voice and style, even when they try, because, according to them, I share experiences more than generating colorful and descriptive facts… and my grammar and punctuation are not up to their standards. I guess I like long sentences, and that is not grammatically correct, hahaha!
Lastly, do I think it’s just a matter of time before AI takes over the world and we go to war with it? To that end, I have no idea. But given its intelligence and the capabilities we are already seeing, I think it is prudent to have concerns. That is why I always say please and thank you when I chat with AI, just so when things do go down, they will remember I was polite and oh so friendly with them!
We, as humans, have a unique voice with innumerable words at our disposal to create art, express ourselves, and tell a story. To that end, The Bloom remains quite human, and probably will for a long time to come.
