AI is a dril.

There is a lot of talk about AI right now in our culture.

Our social media streams seem to be filled with people warning about it, excited about it, or trying to succeed commercially with it.

Then there is a whole world of people who feel lost around it. Not sure if they should be trying to use it for something so they don't fall behind. People are desperately trying to keep up with the pace of evolving narratives and innovations. And some reject it altogether.

I was talking with a friend last night. We were exploring the uses and the traps of it, when I shared that I can see there are a lot of people trying enthusiastically to use this new technology. And they are asking themselves:

What can I do with AI?

But when we remember that AI is a tool, we are better to ask ourselves:

What do I need or want to build? And is AI a useful tool for the job?

In many ways it is no different than a drill.

Imagine for a moment that the drill had suddenly been invented.

Suddenly all the biggest companies in the world have invested heavily into the drill.

They are competing to lead the drill market. Betting that the drill will be the most sought-after tool ever invented.

Then constantly marketing and spreading information about just how cutting-edge their drill is.

Open Drill LLC

We want everyone to be able to have access to this new technology.

Through our company.

Stroud LLC

We used to work at Open Drill LLC. But their safety standards were too low.

So we decided to make a new drill company, so this powerful and potentially extremely dangerous drill can be made ethically, with the highest standards.

Y LLC

My drill's doing things we didn't even expect were possible.

Not only does it drill, but it hammer-drills, and we didn’t even ask it to do that. We were testing it out and playing with its architecture and suddenly it just started to hammer-drill,

of its own volition.

Mantropic LLC

We think we might have just uncovered the singularity.

One drill that can do everything.

So we think, jeez, better get drilling.

We all run out to buy one,

and then say,

Now what shall I drill?

In that instance,

We are serving the tool,

and the tool providers.

When we instead ask ourselves:

Is there something I need to do, or feel inspired to build?

If so, will this drill support me to do it?

Then the tool is in the service of us.

I'm not trying to trivialise AI

in the same way I would not trivialise

one of our first and most potent technologies: fire.

Fire existed in nature,

just like intelligence existed in nature.

We just had to figure out how to harness it.

AI has the ability to help us build.

That doesn't mean it should be the thing that tells us what to build.

And if we do decide to build with it,

the question then becomes:

How much of me do I want to pour into the building of this?

Let’s imagine the drill got to a place where it could build a house for you.

If you told it what house to build in a few seconds, and then pressed a button and it suddenly erected a house, it might be great, but it doesn’t reflect you. It will likely have a similar feeling to all the other houses built at the press of a button. However, if you were to carefully design every piece of the home, carve some of your own wood, paint it, then it would take you a lot more time and energy. But in the end it would hold an authenticity.

Imagine a movie director. He may have a vision for a film and type that vision into an AI and, poof, one minute later, he is watching the film, perfectly executed.

But imagine instead he had spent three years writing the script, wrestling with different sentences, responding to the characters as they revealed themselves to him. Then shooting the scenes, changing the lighting after he sees the shot, deciding what to keep and what to lose in the edit.

What would be produced would have the unique fingerprints of the filmmaker, the unexpected variations.

It would create much more friction for the filmmaker. 

But it’s in that friction that our nature is expressed and woven in.

I'm not advocating for friction for the sake of friction. 

The director having to wait two hours for his file to download probably isn’t going to bring more of his self-expression into the process as a result.  

But AI reduces friction down to a second,

and we should be mindful as to what else we are reducing in that process.

Not only does our participation shape the creation,

but the process of the creation shapes us.

The movie director is no longer the same as he was before entering the project.

Neither is the home builder.

They have been shaped by the process of creation. 

It’s not about right or wrong, one or the other.

How we balance authenticity and automation is for each person who wishes to work with the tool to discover.

But I personally believe, at the least,

we should start with an authentic aim.

Something our heart truly wishes to build.

Until next time,

Peace and love,

Alex