Why I like people more than machines
People:
- Have diverse, unique, interesting points of view.
- Like to laugh.
- Say stuff you don’t expect.
- Come up with original ideas. Some are stupid, but that’s okay.
- Vary the way they speak, the way they write, the way they explain things.
- Are enjoyable to connect with on a human-to-human level.
- Reason differently, often coming to different conclusions
- Project their personalities through their writing (even when it’s factual and expository)
AI doesn’t.
That’s why there will always be room for people, and why human writing, even when flawed, is often better.
My rhetoric professor shared an essay by a non-native speaker. It had many errors if judged only against standard grammar and style practices, but it was vivid and quirky and absolutely charming. The writer’s voice gave clues to the writer’s character, and that was ultimately the best part of the essay. If the professor had given the same prompt to an LLM, nothing about the result would have been interesting.
Many human writers achieve results that are also trite and bland; these are, after all, the source materials on which the LLMs are trained. That’s the kind of writing readers endure because they need to learn about Medicare enrollment or some other practical requirement. It’s not what they will ever choose to read for pleasure.
Touche!
Twenty-plus years ago, I read a short story on an online literary forum, written by a Romanian. He apologized for his poor English (far better than my Romanian!). The story was about a cockroach that had fallen in love with a middle-aged woman that lived in a certain apartment where the cockroach lived. The story was absurd, but absolutely charming! The poor English suited its “voice,” for (after all) how much education would a cockroach have (unless you happen to be Archie)? AI could never pull off a story like that.