After our last class I was left pondering about the volatility of AI. Even I, who had never considered using things like ChatGPT up until a few weeks ago, have now come to rely on it quite regularly for some of my assignments. When it comes to finding examples, quotes, or, since I will be teaching French, things like writing a “short simple story about a dog in the present tense”, AI can save me so much time and come up with results that are equal to or better than I could produce on my own. It is fascinating to me how quickly we start relying on tools when they make our lives easier (I mean, what is a dishwasher, #amiright?).

However, it scares me to think that these Large Language Models are not, from what I understand, subject to any kind of regulation yet, really. It’s easy to imagine than they could be used for nefarious ends in the context of a dictatorship, for instance. Ultimately, I agree with Tristan Harris about the fact that we need to keep technology humane, and that the way to do that is through careful, continuous, thoughtful, evolving regulation.

So far, the only domain I feel is unthreatened by AI is that of artistic writing, whether it be in the form of fiction, memoir, poetry, etc. I know that I’m not alone in feeling that I will never be artistically interested or moved by words that are unbound by feelings. AI can do a lot, but it cannot replace a living, breathing body, which experiences the world through its own layers and permeates that experience with the stories of which we are all made.