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Threadception here but omg, I feel like KJ & Racheline have absolutely put a finger on something that has made me feel insane about all of this. I talk about imaginary people as if they are real entities with goals, desires, motivations etc all the time. I tell Donna, "no he would never do that"

My literal job is making up imaginary people that feel so real that other people believe in them. Other people also say, "no he would never do that" because I have conveyed such a sense of humanity via careful words that they can guess what the character would think. genAI is terrible at that.

Every email I get written with chatGPT is like someone has created a vapid soulless imaginary person who is looking at me with an empty nothing looming behind every sentence and it gives me the fucking creeps. And that's before I read the words which are cult-level love bombing incoherence.

When I'm surrounded by chatGPT writing I feel like Meg from a Wrinkle in Time, stepping into the streets of Camazotz. yes everything is very pretty. but it's wrong. it's so damn wrong.

And this is absolutely not to say I think everyone should notice this. I actually am kinda too proud of the work I've done to become a strong character writer to imply that. I've spent 18 years where every single day I think about how to make imaginary people feel real. This is my main event.

And that is why I think the rise of this type of AI and the pathological attempts to destroy the very idea of expertise are completely intertwined. These billionaire bros resent that other people have done the work to have skills & knowledge they can't have unfettered access to & want a short-cut.

They truly want to believe computers can ingest knowledge and it is the same as a human who has spent decades becoming an expert by learning and trying things and making mistakes & suffering the real world consequences of those mistakes & growing wiser & more talented. But they can't.

And I truly can not wait until this absolute fever breaks and we can get back to focusing on what the promise of AI technology as it was. Because there are so many areas where technology can improve things. But we're stuck on "make replacement people we don't have to pay"

This. If you had told me 10 years ago that I would not be excited by AI advancement (to the point of being opposed to some of it), I would have thought you were insane. Great advancements ruined by money and marketing people and a deeply stupid general public.