There is a reason (besides old-school curmudgeonliness) I avoid using generative AI chatbot tools to help write articles, or even to help craft a search inquiry. That reason is summarized in last week's Economist, about how the use of AI tools drives down overall Web traffic. Web traffic has declined 15% overall from January to June of this year, and useful sites like tripadvisor have seen drastic downturns in traffic. The Economist predicts that extensive AI use will kill the traditional Web, which is where all the real data resides. Instead, people will rely on AI-driven summaries that don't cite the background information, and sometimes contain "hallucinations" dreamed up by the A.I. tools. I should add that a second article in the same Economist, in the Science section, cites a new study from MIT that people who regularly use AI tools show profound drops in their own creativity - due to what is called "cognitive offloading."
There is a moral imperative here for not using a tool that is as clear as the moral imperative to not use streaming apps like Spotify because you are bankrupting musicians. When you use any chatbot type of generative A.I. tool, you are bankrupting the original sources of information on the traditional Web, as you make yourself stupider.
Luckily, The Economist tied this all together with a third article in their culture section, telling us it is up to each one of us to minimize AI dumbing down by going analog as often as possible. Purchase LPs and cassettes, analog film, and printed books, newspapers, and magazines. Refuse to be a participant in the AI transformation of the culture. Keep the true sources of art and power alive.
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