Reflection 2
Wow. This week’s reading was a little hard to stomach as it raised a lot of questions about the future that I’m not sure that I’m ready to explore or find out the answers to. It is weird to think about how often we have to grow the design practice, reforming it and reshaping it to fit into the future… whatever that will look like! As we’ve established, AI will most definitely play a huge part, despite those that are resisting (like me…). I think I am pushing against change because I am scared of losing our human qualities that keep parts of the world so sunny. Without empathy, joy, patience, love…. What will we become?!
I’ll admit that our first project has forced my hand with experimenting with AI and I’ve realized that it genuinely does make my life so much easier. I think it’s hard for me to accept that I’m playing in yet another thing that is harmful to our climate, though that doesn’t stop me from driving my car or taking long showers. Why do I draw the line with AI? Is it because it still feels so uncanny and creepy to me?
Playing around with NotebookLM to have it help me write a branding and marketing strategy based on my sources.
An interesting point in our reading was discussing our human attraction to something MORE than just individualization and access to these machines, we crave the human-like conversation and will seek out the machines that provide that to us. This reminds me of my friends turning to ChatGPT for advice before coming to me and makes me fearful for the young children that are developing their conversational skills through machines. I guess that’s just how the world goes though. I’m sure my parents were scared for my generation when phones and TVs emerged, scared for our imagination, attention spans, etc. Weren’t they a little bit valid in their fear?
This is where that machine and human interaction really comes in to play. It is reiterated in the book over and over that machines do not have emotional or social intelligence…. yet. Although it feels weird to me to train computers in these human assets, the BDBD truly did make me realize that without that aspect of learning, one day the computers won’t understand us and therefore won’t need us. What a terrifying thought! However, Weizenbaum urges that creators and designers differentiate between deciding and choosing when we train these machines and design the interfaces. He believes that there is a lot of importance in allowing a computer to only decide, therefore just using logic, while humans should only be choosing, through using compassion and wisdom. How do we CHOOSE where the middle ground lies between training computers to become our centaurs or leaving them only as tools and stunting further innovation?
An argument brought up in the text relates; are we stunting further human innovation and setting us backwards because of our growing alliance on AI… thus beginning to treat humans like machines instead of the other way around? We talked briefly in class about hustle culture, which is something I think about a lot. We have created a culture that thrives off of MORE. More work, more hours, more connections, etc. And all of this at an accelerated pace, something that machines and AI are beginning to excel at: instantaneous response. I guess I don’t care that much about losing my GPS instincts or spelling skills due to integrating machines into my daily life. But losing my life balance? My hobbies? My connections with my friends or even just chatting with the barista? I’m not ever going to be ready to give those up in order to gain a perfect integration with machines into my life emotionally and socially. I think we have to maintain the beauty of human fumbling, saying the wrong things, laughing at the wrong times, driving a conversation that may piss you off but may also open a new perspective. If we begin to prefer only interacting with machines that have picked up on our patterns and have replicated our personalities, I can’t even imagine what will become of the human race: outsmarted by machines.
At the end of the day, I have my thoughts, Helen Armstrong has hers, and Meena, I know your thoughts are always insightful. And I like talking about this. I like figuring out what I think on it as I learn the powers behind it. Does it make me necessarily want to use it more and more? Not yet. But this first project is definitely starting to crack me just a little bit. I will say that when I was reading the AI newsletters I became pretty excited to see the new AI updates in Adobe. Premiere Pro has now been updated with a feature that allows you to find clips that you need by describing the footage, using adjectives and features to save you from sorting through hundreds of clips. I really wish they had that feature when I took my videography class, but I definitely will be using that in the future. It just blows my mind that the computer can understand and find what I’m looking for without me having to show it a reference to go off of. I will have to try it out soon!
