Day: September 15, 2023

The Intersection of Generative AI and Writing

The rise of generative artificial intelligence is bound to be a pivotal point in our search for more efficient information processing. Nicholas Carr’s commentary informs my perspective on this rise by addressing concerns about devalued thinking, ethics, and education. Nicholas mentions the internet’s influence on our attention span and our ability to think deeply being extended to generative AI. This is something we notice today as we’re so used to getting our information quickly by simply searching or scrolling. As AI becomes more capable, it poses this risk of people relying on it too heavily and not engaging with it critically potentially leading to less deeper thinking with the content we interact with.

Memory machines, which are designed to help with memorizing and retrieving information, relate to my writing and literacy practices as they assist in the research, content, and structure of my work. When looking for specific information on a topic, I can utilize ChatGPT to condense information from a plethora of sources in a few paragraphs instead of reading through each source manually. In the past, I’ve used ChatGPT to peer-review my written work and ask what improvements I could make to make the paper better answer the given prompt. This has enhanced the quality and structure of some essays I have written and the feedback that I’ve gotten from AI proofreading for me has genuinely helped me since they were specific to my writing style.

Is Technology Helping or Harming?

Command + Option + X has probably been my best friend when writing an essay. Sometimes I tend to think faster than I type, and going back to fix my mistakes can honestly be time-consuming and make me lose my train of thought. But the satisfaction I feel once I have finished up my thoughts and press all three of those buttons for the computer to correct all the words with the red squiggly lines makes me thankful that I wouldn’t have to reread everything and fix them myself.

But has technology made us more lazy?

How good would our writing be without these tools?

There are so many apps and devices that can help make your writing better. Even I use apps like Grammarly or websites that make sure my sentences make sense and are proper. There are many good uses for such apps because they help save you time and can even make your writing stronger. They allow you to learn and find appropriate vocabulary and ease the writing process. But do those tools block out your actual voice in your writing?

There are even ways in which you don’t have to write a single word at all. ChatGPT has become very widely known among students and others and is often used to help solve math problems or answer questions. The computer writes everything for you, and you won’t have to think at all. But where do your thoughts and ideas go? Where is your creativity, and how will you learn from your mistakes?