On AI and its uses… I’m fascinated by the liminal use of AI. I like the idea of AI as a reflection of consciousness, of seeing what it does with input.

As I cultivate this presence on the web, I want to be up front about the role AI plays in my workflow.

I tend to stay away from AI for writing. I use it for only the most rudimentary assistance, like grammar or perhaps an occasional writing prompt. I feel like writing is the closest analog to my actual voice, so I like to leave it untouched, warts and all. WordPress’s little AI helper is nice, but a lot of the proposed changes would inhibit my voice. People who like my writing seem to like it because of the relative ease with which I convert my voice into writing. I’d say it’s a talent, but it’s just something I could always do… I didn’t really “earn” it.

So I keep a separation between AI and my writing.

I do, however, like to feed paragraphs of my prose and poetry into AI with a few prompts and see what kind of graphic it conjures. If you’re one of my 3 to 5 readers you may have noticed that some of my posts have AI imagery sprinkled throughout. That comes straight from the words. There’s something exciting about watching a computer derive visual meaning from my phonetics.

I am also a visual artist (ish… I sketch, I doodle, I dabble)… and I draw (ahem) a line between my sketches, creations, and AI-enhanced renderings.

AI is fascinating and terrifying, like any groundbreaking technology. The opportunities for use, abuse, and misuse are myriad. It’s fun to craft a prompt and see how the little binary elves render it. But in the end, it’s not really my creation. At best, it’s a collaboration. And it works well for me in that capacity.

I also am fascinated by the idea of AI as a way of communing with my unconscious. I sense you pulling away, but follow me here… If I keep a record of some of my writings and interests over a period of time, it’s interesting to feed it into an AI model and see patterns emerging that I may have unconsciously missed. We feel like we’re so in control of our thoughts and actions, but in reality, these are all coming from somewhere. That somewhere is our unconscious. It guides us from the depths. But we can work with it as it works for us.

Like most things in life, I tend to surf the liminal line and embrace the paradoxes while also drowning in them.