Let’s talk about Writing with AI
If this is the screen that greets you as you sit down to write or blog, then you are not like me…
(photo by Matheus Bertelli on Pexels)
As a tool that can quickly generate content, AI is taking over much of online writing and blogging, but that’s not a good thing.
Artificial Intelligence (AI) is everywhere and it is so insidiously created now that it’s becoming more and more difficult to notice when it is being used to write a quick blog post, social media comment, or news article. This is a windfall for those who depend on producing in quantity and whose income is directly proportional to that quantitative content. However, that last point is the crux of the matter.
The Income-generating Rat-Race for Writers
Everything I produce is not for profit. I don’t run ads on my blogs, and I don’t charge a subscription fee. Everything is completely free. I write Business Owner Stories articles because I want to help other business owners, and I know that many of them don’t have big budgets.
More to the point, I don’t want there to be extra steps, pop-ups, and other junk on the screen before they get to my articles. Ads, pay-wall pop-ups, and in-paragraph distractions get in the way of that. This turns people off and perhaps even more importantly, it makes my articles like all the others – I don’t want that, and it goes against my mission.
Regarding affiliate marketing links, I do use them at times. However, let me be very clear: they are very few. I primarily use them for products I use myself, I believe in, and I want to promote, because I believe they would benefit my readers. Another benefit of affiliate links is that they are minimally intrusive – just a text link – so it doesn’t really get in the way of readers being able to read past them if they choose to.
Most importantly, because my affiliate links are so few, they are not a real source of income – they just help cover costs. This gets back to my main point, that I want my content to be free and accessible. I believe that content for profit risks losing its purpose. Over time, the goal becomes income generation that replaces information sharing. I’m not about that.
What I do have is a completely voluntary Buy Me a Coffee option – which is a way to send me some money. I consider this my tip jar. If what I share online helps you and you want to thank me, then you can buy me a coffee. This also is not there for generating real income. Like the affiliate links, it helps cover costs, but it doesn’t generate significant income; and frankly, I don’t want it to.
I don’t want either affiliate links or tips to influence my content. That is why I don’t promote either extensively, and I make it easy to scroll past both. This is also why I refuse to use AI. Let me elaborate.
AI is about Quantity over Quality
I believe that AI is generated and builds on the concept of quantity over quality. Think about it. AI uses extremely large quantities of data to generate an average of all that content. It then creates a reasonably palatable version based on that average that may or may not meet the needs of the reader/viewer.
As we all remember from our math classes, the larger the number of samples, the better the resulting average. AI is not rocket science, it’s simply the math of averages. Now if simple averages are OK for your consumption, then this meets your needs. Congrats, you have settled for an average.
My content, on the other hand, is not average. It’s a product of what’s in my head, my years of education, my long experience in the workforce, and my hard work building my own business and helping others do the same. Unlike a computer-generated calculation, my content is on-of-a-kind and thoughtful. It is not based on a large data set that seeks to erase that which is unique for the sake of meeting some average, generalized, and sanitized boring middle ground.
It should be pointed out that the reason that AI has so suddenly become the most talked-about and used technology this decade is because the computing power available reached a point where it became widely available to many users. The technologies that made this possible are cloud storage and high-speed access – like a perfect storm, these advancements made AI possible.
Unfortunately, this has also come with significant issues. From the virtual replacement of millions of jobs to the amount of electrical energy required to make it all work, AI has a lot of drawbacks. That energy use risks having a significant environmental impact.
Consequently, my refusal to use AI in my writing is a conscious choice to do my part to save jobs and reduce the environmental impact. Granted, it’s a very small impact, but it is still in the right direction, IMO. One of the realities about being a writer is the humbling realization that we are only contributing a little to the world with what we do...
Or are we?
One thing that writers and artists have is that they produce for others. That sets an example and if that example is a model for others to follow, then it becomes more than a single voice. All writers want their writing to be read and shared. It is why we do what we do. So, in this way, we have the power to amplify our choices if others adopt them too.
Bringing it all Together
Amplifying my own voice is also why quality over quantity matters. My writing needs to be of interest and it has to be good. If not, then I reach fewer people and that defeats my goal of spreading my writing far and wide. This is why AI, which literally is the opposite of unique because it is just a mathematical average, is simply not something that fits my goals and ideals. Likewise, it really doesn’t fit the goals and ideals of many other artists either.
For me, it is also about making my writing available for free because that helps me reach more people. Now I realize free content is something that most other artists strive for. Many artists are looking to generate income from their art, so offering it for free becomes a conflict of interest.
Don’t worry, though. That is a dilemma as old as civilization itself. Great thinkers throughout history have spoken and written about this dichotomy and there is a simple answer. Simply put, selling one’s art is not an all-or-nothing proposition; it’s also an issue of balance. Artists should be able to live from their art, but they often find that there is a limit to that profit-motive.
Where that balance is, is something each artist needs to discover for their own art and the business they seek to build around it. Much of this will depend on what their customers believe the art is worth as well. Some forms of art, like writing in my case, may have a different price-point than let’s say, oil painting. Every artist needs to discover that balance for themselves.
The balance that works for me as a blogger is using a few affiliate links and asking for tips. Of note, my blog is also not a business; I’m not trying to earn a living from it. So, this balance may be very different from others who really do need to build a business from their art. This isn’t a call for everyone to do what I do. Every artist is free to generate income from their art in the way that works for them.
However, for me, I draw the line at AI. So, I say this to my readers: I will not use AI in my writing. I do this for all the reasons listed above. When you read my articles, you can be assured that they are my own thoughts, coming from my own experience. My writing is genuine, it’s unique, and it’s unapologetically free.
Of course, if free is just not something you can wrap your head around and you distrust the whole idea, then by all means, feel free to tip me by clicking on the big yellow Buy Me a Coffee button at bottom of this page.
