AI

A brief missive on how I use and don't use AI in life.

AI is not magic. It’s materials, energy and mathematics. Because of the nuances of AI’s history and present reality, our development and use of AI is having an increasingly significant impact on the world we co-inhabit. So, before using AI in any context, pause and consider, are the possible benefits I’m motivated by actually worth the guaranteed costs?

From: Nate Kinch in Dense Discovery 389

In the above I find my general principal for AI usage: is what I'm doing somehow, in someway worth the impact on the world I co-inhabit with others? For more specifics:

AI use generally

I try and keep AI use to a minimum. Currently that basically means mostly coding support at work. My company provides the cheapest sub and I don't hit limits.

on the web

A couple of years ago I experimented with having AI transcribe and format posts but I found the transcription no better than the normal transcription on my phone and the formatting changed too much and lost my voice. I don't generate any writing at all with AI and don't plan to because of ethical qualms. I also moved away from using an AI coding assisted theme so that I could comfortable say krrd.ing is AI free to the best of my knowledge.

in tools

AI and vibe coding is the current reality. It's hard to avoid. Part of me would love to avoid it altogether because having experimented a bit with AI assisted coding, I don't particularly trust it. But then I'd probably have no apps on my computer or phone. I personally want to try and prioritize human only coding but if I have reason to trust the developer or project I'll use it.

In conclusion

I realize this is probably too restrictive for the AI evangelists and too permissive for the anti-AI folks but it is what it is. I think there needs to be a ton of work done on addressing the ethics of AI before I try to more widely adopt generative AI into my workflow but I think there is also a lot of potential for good (if people take time to address the ethics of it). You can read more about some of these thoughts here. So there it is.