A.I. Is Neither Friend nor Enemy
But you better learn just what it is
Wrong Assumptions/Myths About AI & Your writing
If you are a writer, you might have heard of AI tools that can help you with your writing process. Maybe you have even tried some of them, or maybe you are skeptical about their usefulness. In any case, you might have some misconceptions about what AI can and cannot do for your writing. I will try to clear up some of the most common myths and misunderstandings that people have about AI writing assistants.
Myth #1: AI can write anything for you.
Some people think that AI can write anything for you, from novels to essays to tweets. They imagine that AI can generate original and creative content without any human input or guidance. This is not true. AI is not a magic wand that can produce any kind of text you want. It’s more like a magic hat that sometimes gives you useful things and sometimes gives you rabbits. AI can help you with specific aspects of your writing, such as grammar, spelling, style, tone, and structure. AI can also suggest ideas, words, phrases, and sentences that are relevant to your topic and genre. But AI cannot write a whole piece of text for you from scratch. You still need to provide the main idea, the purpose, the audience, and the voice of your writing. You still need to edit, revise, and polish your text until it meets your standards and expectations. AI can only assist you with your writing, not replace you. Unless you want to write a book about rabbits.
Myth #2: AI can make your writing perfect.
Some people have this fantasy that AI can magically transform their writing into flawless masterpieces, without any errors or imperfections. They think that AI can spot and fix all the blunders and glitches in their text, and make it sound like it was written by a Pulitzer Prize winner. This is a big fat lie. AI is not a superhuman proofreader or editor that can guarantee the excellence of your writing. AI is a tool that can help you find and correct some of the common mistakes and issues in your text, such as grammar, spelling, punctuation, word choice, and sentence structure. But AI cannot catch and solve all the problems in your text, especially those that require human wisdom and skill.
Myth #3: AI will make your writing boring.
Some people think that AI will make your writing boring, without any personality or flair. They imagine that AI can only generate generic and bland content that lacks creativity and emotion. This is not true. AI is not a dull and monotonous writer that can only produce boring and repetitive text. AI is a tool that can help you enhance and enrich your writing with various features and elements, such as vocabulary, style, tone, humor, imagery, metaphor, and storytelling. AI can also adapt to your preferences and goals and generate content that matches your desired tone and voice. You still need to express yourself clearly and authentically in your writing. You still need to inject some humor and emotion into your text if you want to engage and entertain your readers. AI can assist you with your writing, not necessarily bore it.
Good Questions in AI Usage
It is very important for anyone who wants to interact with AI systems to know how to ask good questions.
You see, AI systems are not like humans. They don’t have emotions, opinions, or preferences. They don’t understand sarcasm, irony, or humor. They don’t have common sense or intuition. They only know what they are trained on, and they can only answer what they are asked.
So, if you want to get useful and accurate answers from AI systems, you need to ask them clear, specific, and relevant questions. You need to avoid ambiguity, vagueness, and assumptions. You need to provide enough context and information for the AI system to understand your query and your intent.
For example, if you ask an AI system “What is the best movie ever?”, you will probably get a very different answer than what you expect. The AI system might not know what criteria you are using to define “best”, or what genre or style of movie you prefer. It might not even know what a movie is, depending on its training data. A better way to ask this question would be something like “What is the highest-rated movie on IMDb in the comedy genre released in the last 10 years?”. This way, you are giving the AI system a clear definition of “best”, a specific category of movies, and a time frame to narrow down the results.
Another example of a bad question to ask an AI system is “Why do you exist?”. This question is too vague and philosophical for an AI system to answer. The AI system might not have any concept of existence, purpose, or meaning. It might not even know what “you” refers to.
A better way to ask this question would be something like “What is the main function or goal of your system?”. This way, you are asking about something that the AI system can explain based on its design and capabilities.
Asking good questions to AI systems is not only important for getting reliable and relevant answers, but also for respecting the limitations and boundaries of these systems. AI systems are not human-like entities that can engage in casual conversations or personal opinions. They are tools that can perform specific tasks and provide factual information.
Therefore, when seeking comment from AI systems, we should always be mindful of how we phrase our questions, and what kind of questions we ask. We should avoid asking questions that are inappropriate, offensive, harmful, or irrelevant for the AI system. We should also avoid asking questions that are too complex, abstract, or subjective for the AI system to answer.
By asking good questions to AI systems, we can make the most of their potential and benefits, while also avoiding misunderstandings and conflicts. We can also learn more about how these systems work and what they can do.
Rilke and Great Questions
Have you ever wondered what makes a good question? Some people think that the best questions are the ones that lead to clear and definitive answers. But others, like the famous poet Rilke, have a different perspective. Rilke believed that asking fresh new questions was more important than finding the right answer. What did he mean by that?
Rilke was a poet who lived in the late 19th and early 20th century. He wrote many poems and letters that explored the themes of love, beauty, death, and spirituality. He was not interested in easy answers or conventional wisdom. He wanted to challenge himself and his readers to think deeply and creatively about life and its mysteries.
One of his most famous pieces of advice was to “live the questions”. In a letter to a young poet, he wrote: “I beg you, to have patience with everything unresolved in your heart and to try to love the questions themselves as if they were locked rooms or books written in a very foreign language. Don’t search for the answers, which could not be given to you now, because you would not be able to live them. And the point is, to live everything. Live the questions now. Perhaps then, someday far in the future, you will gradually, without even noticing it, live your way into the answer.”
What Rilke meant by this was that we should not rush to find answers to our questions, but rather embrace the uncertainty and curiosity that they inspire. He believed that questions are more valuable than answers, because they open up new possibilities and perspectives. They invite us to explore and discover, rather than settle and conform. They challenge us to grow and learn, rather than stagnate and repeat.
Rilke’s idea of living the questions is not only relevant for poetry, but for all writing and for any field or endeavor that requires creativity and innovation. Whether you are a scientist, an artist, an entrepreneur, or a student, you can benefit from asking fresh new questions that challenge your assumptions and spark your imagination. You can also benefit from being patient and humble with your questions, knowing that you may not find the answers right away, or ever.
So how do you ask fresh new questions? Here are some tips:
- Be curious. Don’t take anything for granted or accept things at face value. Ask why, how, what if, and why not.
- Be open-minded. Don’t judge or dismiss ideas or opinions that are different from yours. Listen and learn from others who have different perspectives and experiences.
- Be playful. Don’t be afraid to experiment and have fun with your questions. Use humor, irony, metaphor, and analogy to make your questions more interesting and engaging.
- Be reflective. Don’t just ask questions for the sake of asking. Think about what your questions mean and what they reveal about yourself and the world.
- Be persistent. Don’t give up on your questions if you don’t find the answers right away. Keep asking and searching until you find something that satisfies you or leads you to new questions.
Asking fresh new questions is not easy, but it is rewarding. It can help you learn more about yourself and the world, expand your horizons, and enrich your life. As Rilke said, “Be patient toward all that is unsolved in your heart and try to love the questions themselves… Do not now seek the answers… Live the questions now.”
AI Neither friend nor enemy, but a useful tool
If you’re a curious person, you probably have a lot of questions about the world. But not all questions are equally valuable. Some questions can lead you to new insights, discoveries and solutions, while others can waste your time, energy and resources. How can you tell the difference? And how can AI help you separate great questions from pointless ones?
One way to evaluate the quality of a question is to use the SMART criteria. SMART stands for Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Relevant and Time-bound. A SMART question is clear, focused, realistic, meaningful and timely. For example, a SMART question could be: How can I reduce my carbon footprint by 10% in the next six months? A non-SMART question could be: How can I save the planet?
AI can help you apply the SMART criteria to your questions by using natural language processing (NLP) techniques. NLP is a branch of AI that deals with understanding and generating natural language, such as text and speech. NLP can analyze your questions and give you feedback on how to make them SMARTer. For example, NLP can:
- Identify the main topic and subtopics of your question and suggest ways to make them more specific and measurable.
- Assess the feasibility and difficulty of your question and suggest ways to make it more achievable and realistic.
- Evaluate the relevance and importance of your question and suggest ways to make it more meaningful and impactful.
- Estimate the time frame and urgency of your question and suggest ways to make it more time-bound and timely.
By using AI to refine your questions, you can improve your critical thinking, creativity and problem-solving skills. You can also avoid wasting time on questions that are too vague, broad, unrealistic, irrelevant or outdated. Instead, you can focus on questions that are clear, narrow, realistic, relevant and current. These are the questions that can help you learn, grow and make a difference in the world.
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