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>Take, for example, speeches. I do not let AI write my speeches. But my speeches are better for having been critiqued by AI. But the result is still my speech.

• btilly 4mo ago
  Odd. I never had any friends, families, or coworkers who were willing to be available for a dozen rough drafts. I've only had ones who were willing to talk during the idea stage, or after it was closer to a final speech. For me, AI gives me feedback at places that I wouldn't have received it before. It does not replace the human feedback that I still look for.
  • cstever 4mo ago
    Less about the draft/writing and more about human interaction on all levels. I don't see how AI becoming a mentor or a coach to push me harder is helpful in the long run. I would be missing out on opportunity to learn from real life experience. I'd rather listen to my brother or my coworker or whomever human, pick their brain, riff, dig deeper, understand their perspective from life experiences and actual meaningful thought and moral compass than have AI (take intelligence with a grain of salt) influence me.
  • beej71 4mo ago
    I just acted as an amateur editor for my friend's new novel. It took a long time to get through with hundreds or thousands of minor corrections and notes. I'm certain I outperformed an LLM for a lot of that in terms of quality.
    • llbeansandrice 4mo ago
      You don’t need to outperform an LLM tho. The experience of working on it together is incredibly meaningful. I generally reject this litmus test that someone has to be “better” and an LLM in order for the human interaction and effort to be worthwhile. You’re now part of the journey of this novel. They will thank you in the acknowledgements section. It’s this foundation upon which our lives, communities, culture and societies are built. You do not need to be better. This act you did for a friend is not suddenly pointless and meaningless upon the release of the next model.
      • the_af 4mo ago
        > You’re now part of the journey of this novel. They will thank you in the acknowledgements section. It’s this foundation upon which our lives, communities, culture and societies are built. Beautifully said. I think this is what the poem is all about. Some people (bizarrely, in my opinion) sometimes focus on whether AI is good enough or whether it lets them be more productive with their projects, in some mad rush to optimize life. But I think that's a red herring, and I think so does the poem's author.
• elliotbnvl 4mo ago
  Why can’t they continue to do so? If anything an underlying truth about humanity is being exposed: we take the easy way out far more often than we’d like to admit. Perhaps, this truth being made explicit is a wakeup call that will teach us the value of that hard work anew. After all, nothing the author’s written isn’t also true about Google, but nobody realized how bad of a mistake that was.
  • jimbokun 4mo ago
    > Why can’t they continue to do so? Because we are talking to the AIs instead of talking to them. > After all, nothing the author’s written isn’t also true about Google, but nobody realized how bad of a mistake that was. There was plenty written about how Google was making us dumber because we didn't need to remember anything any more.
    • lanfeust6 4mo ago
      > instead of Citation needed. People did not stop talking to family, friends and colleagues just because they're able to leverage LLMs.
      • dragonwriter 4mo ago
        > People did not stop talking to family, friends and colleagues just because they're able to leverage LLMs. Which people? There are clearly people who did—some with catastrophic, newsworthy results, but presumably more without.
      • jimbokun 4mo ago
        No, they stopped talking to family, friends and colleagues because they got addicted to social media algorithms.
        • lanfeust6 4mo ago
          and other forms of multi-media before that.
• vitally3643 4mo ago
  > This used to be the job of our friends, families, and coworkers: To push us harder. I think we are losing something. No, and if you think that, your friends, family, and coworkers probably don't like you that much. You can push yourself harder for someone else, but it is and has always been something you do. Making it everyone else's problem to improve you makes you a codependent asshole. You can and should find purpose and meaning, even motivation and inspiration in others. It is not anyone's "job" to make you a better person. That's precisely the kind of thinking that's landed us in the mess we're in. Abdication of personal responsibility. Shifting blame and responsibility from yourself onto anyone nearby. It is your job to make yourself a better person for the people around you. Not the other way around.
  • itsalwaysgood 4mo ago
    This is good stuff. At the end of the day, we all have finite time. How we choose to spend that time is a personal matter. Some say we're losing our humanity: that can be seen as good or bad, depending on whether or not you think you are more useful than someone else.
  • Arainach 4mo ago
    There's no abdication of personal responsibility. To be the kind of person who wants to constantly improve, it is incredibly important to surround yourself with similar people. You will always grow faster spending time with someone who says "couldn't you also try X" than someone who always says "that's good enough, why don't you relax and watch some TV".
  • cstever 4mo ago
    It's not about making them be responsible for me or offloading my problems or them making me better. It's about community. And real people often like to help. If your circle doesn't, find someone who does. Find a community. I enjoy helping people be better, to reach new heights in their personal lives. It's about relationships. My thoughts aren't about "abdication of personal responsibility" or "Shifting blame". It's about humanity and people and community.
  • inanutshellus 4mo ago
• lanfeust6 4mo ago
  You could make the same argument for the internet pre-LLM; it could be relied upon over immediate connections. It's also reminiscent of Socrates's skepticism of written text over oral tradition. Speeches haven't gone away, videos are more popular than ever, and consulting within our social circle will continue on. I think there's something to be said about there being an isolationist phenomenon in society that might be contributing in part to low fertility, but that significantly pre-dates LLMs. It's easy and convenient for us to be alone - people create friction. We've been entertained by the TV set for a century now. That said, we remain social creatures and enduringly have a need to be with others, at least to some extent.
• Aurornis 4mo ago
  It’s not mutually exclusive. LLMs aren’t doing the same job as social encouragement to do better. There’s also limit to how much you can expect coworkers, friends, and family to review your work. An LLM can act as a rubber duck debug partner or a reviewer hundreds of times per time. You cannot have friends and family at your service all day.
• revolvingthrow 4mo ago
  I’m not meeting with friends to work on our speeches, I’m meeting friends to do friends stuff. Go join toastmasters if you want to do work stuff as a fun pasttime.