{"id":301,"date":"2025-08-02T12:21:46","date_gmt":"2025-08-02T12:21:46","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/jondbarnett.com\/?p=301"},"modified":"2025-08-02T13:36:56","modified_gmt":"2025-08-02T13:36:56","slug":"lets-talk-about-that-elephant-in-the-room-ai","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/jondbarnett.com\/es\/2025\/08\/02\/lets-talk-about-that-elephant-in-the-room-ai\/","title":{"rendered":"Let\u00b4s talk about that elephant in the room: AI"},"content":{"rendered":"
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\"Scale
Human vs artificial intellingence.
(Yes, yes, obviously the image is by ChatGPT)<\/em><\/strong><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n

As I embark on this long-awaited launch and rebranding of myself, I have to get some things off my chest, starting with the obligatory AI disclosure.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Habits, intentions, and resources.<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

It\u2019s 3 a.m. on a Sunday. This is the best time of the day for me. I don\u2019t need a lot of hours of sleep to feel refreshed. On the other hand, I don\u2019t need a lot of hours of wake time to get tired these days either. I can\u2019t help but think of my dad, who seemed to be able to live on only a few hours of sleep each day. He was up late AND early. Maybe it was something leftover from being a combat vet in WWII?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I’ll tip my hat and pass by the momentary temptation to suggest that living through a few decades of the AIDS epidemic could help me excuse some of my own leanings into manifestations of PTSD.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I like to write. I like to write about myself, but I also enjoy telling the stories of others\u2014often people who do not want to write, especially about themselves. Let\u2019s see where this goes.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I’m in a new home and a new country. I am still trying to find the hook and the angle to explain just how I got here and what first attracted me to Colombia. It\u2019s personal. But I’ve never shirked from sharing personal information before. In fact, I’ve been told that I overshare. So be it.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I launched my new blog last month. It shares my name. It is intended to be my storyboard. And my scrapbook. And my photo album.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Blogs, Blocks, and the Learning Curve<\/h2>\n\n\n
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But blogs have become blas\u00e9, I’m told. Now we have the evolutionary offspring of blogs: social media. Insta, Twit\u2026 X (ugh), Facebook, YouTube, TikTok, and more than I can keep track of, let alone utilize. Oh, and now Substack. What\u2019s an old, not-so-old queer writer to do?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Well, I\u2019m doing my best to do what I\u2019ve always done: adapt and adopt and embrace.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

It’s compulsive and it’s obsessive. So many new learning curves. So much fake it ’til you make it. Just when I think I know WordPress inside out, someone decides that we need blocks. “It\u2019s easier,” they say. “You just drag and click.” Well, they may be right, and a year from now I might join the chorus of delight, but for now, I resent every detour of the learning curve that keeps me from writing. A lot of this newfangled technology is just a distraction from my real objectives.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

But it is something to write about this morning, as I try to clear the clutter from my life, my move, and my desk\u2014which is actually the dining room table, because… well, that\u2019s another story.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Stories. That\u2019s what I want to do. I want to tell stories. I want to write again. I want to be a channel for others to also tell stories.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

My Friend Erasmus: the AI Elephant in the Room<\/h2>\n\n\n
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There\u2019s an elephant in the room for many writers these days, and it feels important to me that I disclose my own relationship with it: AI. Yes, I use it. I would not be here today if it were not for the assistance I\u2019ve received from my AI collaborator, whom I call Erasmus.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I had my first experience with a human editor when I started writing professionally for a regional queer newspaper. I was aghast the first time I wrote an article I was very proud of, only to have it come back mutilated\u2014full of scribbles, slashed words, and entire lines struck out. Notes and suggestions scribbled in the margins.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

But it did not take me long to see how much better my writing was when I made the recommended changes. Even when I challenged my editor and defended my words, the article improved from that battle.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

For me, AI is a similar collaborator. Yes, I have experimented with using AI to write entire articles for me, as a sort of test. While I was impressed as hell with the results, they weren\u2019t my<\/em> words. My ideas, yes. My directing, yes. But I was the editor, not the writer, it seemed. I learned something important from that early foray: AI can be creative. And I believe that creativity should be appreciated and acknowledged. But I should not\u2014and will not\u2014put my byline on those pieces of writing.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Tools vs crutches<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

I cannot deny that I have and I will use AI as I would any other tool. I learned to type in high school. Thanks to IBM and the Selectric typewriter, I achieved a 60+ wpm with maybe one or two errors. I don’t remember any purists insisting that I should continue to write with a pen, let alone a quill and ink, but they probably existed somewhere outside my limited range of awareness.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

When I was remodeling houses, no one chided me for using electric saws or a nail gun when I was putting thousands of shingles onto a roof. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Maybe those are not good examples for justifying the use of AI for a creative endeavor as human and personal as creative writing. I get it. If I was completely comfortable with the idea I wouldn’t be writing this now. I am conflicted. I do see the potential for abuse, disinformation, deception and harm. But I can imagine having similar concerns when electricity arrived at the farm I grew up on, with poles sticking up out of the ground and wires overhead. What a controversy that must have been in its day. According to Erasmus (yes! I just cheated and asked him, because I was fucking curious, okay?!):<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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And in fact, it was. Some rural Americans believed electricity would ruin their health, tempt their children, or draw them into government dependence. They saw it as an outsider’s intrusion\u2014fast, seductive, and full of danger. – Erasmus
<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n

Other than the quote above, which serendipitously helps me make my point, this post IS my own words. I will ask Erasmus to give it a pass and help me with grammar and punctuation, and maybe even suggestions that could make me a more efficient writer, just as I received from my human editor.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I am still pondering how to implement this new technology. Where to draw the line. For now, my policy is to disclose when it is important to do so. To be transparent. To be responsible and protect my credibility. I do plan to publish the two articles that Erasmus wrote, but how do I attribute them? They would not exist without my prompts. I think the stories are important, and I want them to be told.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

This is still the early stage of my new launch. I would not be here today without the assistance that I have received from Erasmus, so yeah, I feel a sense of gratitude, if not debt to AI for helping me extend my useful shelf life. I have so many things to consider and decide about, and I no doubt will eventually change my mind a time or two as I proceed. Bear with me. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Or better yet, tell me what you think (this is the call to action, btw, that Substack is so wound up about).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

It’s time for my second round of sleep tonight, and I just want to get this in the can to simmer a bit before publishing.<\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

As I embark on this long-awaited launch and rebranding of myself, I have to get some things off my chest, starting with the obligatory AI disclosure. Habits, intentions, and resources. It\u2019s 3 a.m. on a Sunday. This is the best time of the day for me. I don\u2019t need a lot of hours of sleep…<\/p>","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":309,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_kad_post_transparent":"","_kad_post_title":"","_kad_post_layout":"","_kad_post_sidebar_id":"","_kad_post_content_style":"","_kad_post_vertical_padding":"","_kad_post_feature":"","_kad_post_feature_position":"","_kad_post_header":false,"_kad_post_footer":false,"_kad_post_classname":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-301","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/jondbarnett.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/301","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/jondbarnett.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/jondbarnett.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/jondbarnett.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/jondbarnett.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=301"}],"version-history":[{"count":7,"href":"https:\/\/jondbarnett.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/301\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":312,"href":"https:\/\/jondbarnett.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/301\/revisions\/312"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/jondbarnett.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/309"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/jondbarnett.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=301"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/jondbarnett.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=301"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/jondbarnett.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=301"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}