Everyone has a mind, and everyone has the ability to think extremely complex thoughts if they mull over a topic long enough in their brain. In elementary school, I was taught how to write in cursive and brought back homework telling me all sorts of big words and how to write and understand them. I remember my first large essay piece and how much time I spent refining every last detail into oblivion and I can still recall the first serious colored pencil drawing I made with my own two hands in middle school. None of it is easy, yet that is why humans create.
From the birdsong you hear at the crack of dawn to the stridulation of crickets at dusk, the way that trees speckle sun rays in the grass and how children laugh while running through sprinklers in the summertime. Humans have never created art because it was easy to do; they do it because it is sometimes the only way to express a complex thought or emotion. These are the things that artificial intelligence (AI) is taking away from us. Many people can no longer look at an image of an art mural that took several years to complete without telling the creator that “it would just be easier to use AI.”
By using AI so frequently, people are losing the ability to see things beyond the surface level. They speak about the literacy crisis going on right now in the United States, but that literacy is not just the words we read; it is our ability to see beyond the words themselves and understand the deeper meaning. I have noticed that pieces of art that were created to be interpreted differently for everyone who sees them are called “pointless” by people who can not even decide what to have for breakfast without asking Gemini for advice. I stumbled upon a comment on an Instagram post that was entirely written by ChatGPT, and it truly made me realize just how dire these times are becoming.
I feel dirty when my professors ask me to use generative AI for assignments, and it makes me feel angry when points get taken off of the assignments if you do not use AI when asked to. Many see it as our future, but if our future is going to consist of soulless images generated from stolen art, dead forests, empty oceans and people staring at me blankly with drool coming out of their mouths when asked to answer a question without using their precious Grok, I do not want to live in it. That is not unreasonable.
I feel that people have become way too lenient with their peers using AI for everything. If you do not tell people they need to stop, you are being complicit. There was a time not too far in the past when people did not have a choice but to have their own opinions on topics and be able to at least comment on social media posts with their own thoughts. There is no shame in saying you need help with an addiction to using AI and there is nothing wrong with admitting maybe you need a little guidance sometimes, but it is better to find that guidance from other humans who feel and breathe just as you do.
If the time finally comes for the permanent fall of generative AI, I know which side I will be on. This is a battle I will not stop fighting for as long as I have a place to speak on it, even if I am the only one on my side of the battlefield.
Nicholas Ackley can be contacted at
nackley@kscequinox.com
