To use AI or not use AI? That is the question!

A discussion of the use of AI in writing articles or formatting documents online.

Photo by Zach M on Unsplash

“Whether it is nobler to suffer the slings and arrows of outrageous fortune or to take arms against a sea of robots, And by opposing end them.”

William Shakespeare (+)

Photo by lilartsy on Unsplash

Ok, AI can churn out article after article. AND on some days I can to. On others, I may be busy, overloaded, empty headed or just not writing. But when the writing bug bites, I could write day and night for at least a few days or more.

That is exactly what I intended to do the other day (myself, not ai). I was ready to write after months and months of no writing. Life had interupted!

With AI, I could churn out articles on easy topics without much thought and are read, but they do look stale and bland. No point.

Yet, with AI as a tool, I can enter my topic, get an article layout, some titles and subtitles. Usually these are ok, but not suited to my needs. I read the AI article and find it goes somewhere rather bland and mechanical- never where I want my work to go.

But I can work from the format. Just as you would follow the school room essay rules of introduction, body and conclusion. The slightly journalistic rules of Grab line, hook and twist. Get the readers attention. Hook them in and then create a twist. Using AI as a first draft can get you to at least produce something. Anything.

Ai, to me, is a very basic writing tool. Definitively NOT literature with plots and subplots, symbolism within the words so deep that illustrious scholars spend years disphering the context and meaning sometimes for centuries.

Photo by McGill Library on Unsplash

So, somewhere in between that is how I would like my writing to work. Sometimes I want to tell a story or vent. Other times I want to take on the world and discuss aspects of complex political or economic issues as if only my opinion matters.

*Photo by Donald Teel on Unsplash**

Economics and industrial law were my subjects at University (Australia, Curtin and UWA). Then some International Law with a few electives from Ancient Poetry (Harvard Online) to a basic psychology unit from Berkley. I like to be part of the discussion sometimes.

A few years ago, I started playing with AI and it was terrible. I tried to write a travel story using AI and everything it wrote was ‘made up’. Not unlike a young high school student who had not done any work all term and then tries to bluff it in the exam.

Photo by Laura Rivera on Unsplash

Now, AI is a bit like a smart teenager. Knows how to create good layouts, bold headings and good subheadings. Great bulleted points. Yet theres still alot of filler in there. A lack of real organic substance. Like GM food on an all organic farm.

Photo by Ionut Roman on Unsplash

So, what is AI good for in writing. To me, AI can start my brain off by filling in a formated essay, article style space. From there, it is actually a matter of deconstruction rather than an acceptance of mediocrity.

YES — I said it. AI produces mediocre writing at best.

For images though, AI with the right prompts and it does take many prompts sometimes to create the image you wish. AI is pretty good, better than a B+ art student. AI can spit out many many wrong images. There are often numerous failures in AI generated images until you find the one that fits and the exact prompts to create it.

Photo by Zach M on Unsplash

With Medium having rules about articles produced with AI — in general, I which I sort of understand and agree with. Yet I wonder what Medium things of AI as a formating or brainstorming tool. Not an ai generated article as such, but just a tool used as a basic draft on a basic idea. Not using the AI wording or content, or context, but using it as a filler in the first draft.

“To be erased, wiped out and overwritten. “

Photo by Claudio Schwarz on Unsplash

For if you use AI well, you can use it as a guide not an article generator. AND this is where I wish to ask MEDIUM. If my article is all my own words and only the formatting comes from AI or not even the format is from AI, but I started there — like a rough first draft and erased. Is it an AI article? I think not. I think if I use this method, I will not only add that AI “helped” create the article, but the percentage of the article that is AI.

A footnote for using AI for drafting and layout?

I can hear the MEDIUM staff member laughing right now.

“Formatting only” — as if!

Well it does generate titles and subtitles and bullets. but they are usually miss the mark. Are not fully there. Thus they fill a void as you start to create within the framework of what AI produced, but they are never the final product.

Great artists often paint over old paintings or mistakes in their art work. In the NSW Gallery, sitting on the Domain with an awe inspiring view across Sydney Harbour, I first saw a prominent artists mistake. It was in the main gallery and during a guided tour, the tour guide pointed it out. A McCubbin, beautifully gold framed and from another era. It had been painted over, yet there was a wheel, still slightly visible in the background if you were shown where to look.

Photo by Neon Wang on Unsplash

Is AI like that?

This article was written with the help of a **google **search, for the correct Shakespeare quote. No AI was used or harmed in this writing and I am interested to understand others opinions and views on this.

I will however attach a link to article writing formatting templates. Which are not AI generated.

To conclude this experiment. I have created 3 article templates.

I completed my templates without the help of AI. I did however go to AI with what I thought were the relevant prompts and was given an almost scientific, IT dude type answer that was way over technical and did not serve the purpose that I required.

AI did not answer or solve the problem I was seeking to address — it was too technical and not able to produce something simple and easy.

So the templates are very simple, create by me in 20 minutes and can be found via my gumtree account.

Other writers opinions on the topic of how AI should be used when writing is something I am seeking hear. Plus, our ever illustrious Medium staffs take on how the rules work. Please, please read and comment honestly.

• I could not resist the parody the Friends image. Is Medium really our friend or are we to be left to write our lives into oblivion and not be able to create work that sells if Medium does not like it or think it is other than your own work?

Photo by Peter Thomas on Unsplash

If you like my work and would like to buy me a coffee. Please do.