CIRCLE WITH A DOT

@rommix0 I also know AI is here to stay whether we like it or not and that it's a tool, nothing more and that it needs to be used responsibly. That's the jist.

@rommix0 Sure. TLDR: There are things happening with AI like overly shiny feel good stories and garbage obviously AI-generated music that I hate, but I love having the use of AI in my personal toolbox alongside other resources and skills.

@pixelate lol I'm just me. But I certainly do try!

@pixelate I did see the argument in your original post of oh what if this person isn't a good writer or has another disability. I get it. I do, and I won't judge anyone for using the tools that make their lives easier, but there's a line. Even if you don't write well, you can change things up a little so it doesn't sound so generated. If you have another disability or some such, I personally don't see the harm in asking a colleague or friend "hey can you check this and tell me what you think and potentially edit or offer suggestions on how I can make this sound less AI-generated."

RE: https://tweesecake.social/@pixelate/116255587135211297

As I said in my post the other day, there is nothing wrong with prompting AI by saying I want to write about x thing and then having it expand on your topic by asking you questions and generating your thoughts. Once that process is done, sit down with the output and then fix it so it matches your writing style. I do this sometimes when my thoughts are disorganized, but I make sure that the writing that comes out is mostly mine. I edit and shift things around. There is a problem with purely AI-written content and that's what I can't stand. Use your damn tools responsibly.

@JamiePauls @pixelate that doesn't bother me so much. The general idea that audiobooks aren't reading is what does more than if you're "listening." Yes to braille. I have so many braille books that have been kept. A dream of mine is to have a room for them wherever I end up.

@Kaliah @paco Exactly. I'm not 100 percent for AI, my original post mentions several things I despise about the machine learning landscape, but I'm all for finding ways to be as independent as possible. I deserve access to the same media and information the average able-bodied person consumes, and if I have to find workarounds like AI for getting that info, it is what it is. If the use of AI is a tool in your toolbox, good for you, if it's not, good for you. I don't judge and I won't shove my tools down anyone's throat.

@paco @Kaliah In a world where I'm an afterthought because of my disability which is something literally out of my control, I'm forced to find ways to adapt and sometimes that means using things that might not be tools as tools. Maybe AI isn't a tool for some people but it is for me. It's not oversimplifying anything. You do what you have to do to get by, and I value my independence. Sure, I have folks who are happy to describe photos, or read signage, but why should I have to rely on them when I can do it myself. I'm aware that the models aren't perfect, I've seen that in action, but it's better than an alternative where I have to rely on someone to do something I know I can do myself. Anything can be a tool, depending on use case, even things you might not even consider.

@paco @Kaliah I disagree. Depending on how its used, AI, or machine learning, whatever you want to call it can be used as a tool. I gave several examples of how I do so. I use it as a way to generate image descriptions, I use it as a way to keep my independence, the same way I'd use my white cane or ScreenReader. Those things are tools. So is this, at least in my case.

RE: https://mastodon.social/@anon_opin/116238483860739266

This take is actually bullshit. Audiobooks are reading I don't give a damn who says otherwise. I will die on this hill and I'm okay with that.

@dodecahedron Unfortunately, it already has started to. I see a lot of backlash from people who don't like AI *at all* giving people hell for things as simple as photo descriptions that are AI-generated and for a case like that, it's not fair. Getting descriptions of photos of my son without asking someone to take the time to do it? Liberating. Freeing. I already hate depending on people for things, if I can find a way to get a description that gives me an idea of what's happening then I'll do it. Tool in my toolbox. Not everyone has a resident sighted person and not everybody wants to have a resident sighted person to describe things or read the instructions on a box. If you understand that AI can be and sometimes is wrong and know how to check info that you're given then good for you, live your life the way you want to. I made this point in the thread earlier, my data is probably already somewhere and being shared, if I put myself in a box like that I'd not survive, and if I'm really that paranoid, I'd run something locally, but if you don't have knowledge, that's fine too, it's about again, using the AI intelligently like you said. Don't give anything, AI or not data you're not willing to have potentially go somewhere. Not rocket science.

@dodecahedron You aren't putting your stuff out on music streaming services like spotify, and are just sunoing for fun and that's fine. You're doing things with AI for your entertainment. That's one thing. I don't care what anyone decides to do with AI for their entertainment. If you had an AI companion you talked to that's fine too. What I care about is public use cases. I don't like that AI is this thing that everybody and their mother is almost forcing us to use, as if it's going to be a thing that increases everybody's workflow because let's face it, it does not. It gets in the way in most cases, but I reference times where I have used it as a tool and that's it.

@Kaliah @Blobsta Going off of that, though, I'm not stupid enough to do something like ask AI for medical advice. That's what doctors are for. There are things that AI should just not do and that's one of them. Don't replace doctors. It is neat that robots exist to help with surgeries, that does help make some things less invasive, but there is still a human element. My gallbladder removal in 2020 was done with the help of a robot. Recovery time was cut down by a lot. I looked it up, had the procedure been done with no robot, my recovery time would have been a lot more. So thank you mister surgery robot for helping the doctor who was doing my surgery. It was a tool, in this case.

@Kaliah @Blobsta this! Especially as someone who has no vision, I've accepted the world is not going to accommodate me in most cases. With AI as one of my many tools, my life can be, and is, easier and that's a big deal because god some days it's hard.

@Kaliah @Blobsta but also re data: Your data is already going places. That's nothing new.

@Kaliah @Blobsta thank you!

@Blobsta @Kaliah My son's dads don't have to do anything special. They just have to send pics. Now that's not to say that they don't. They will describe things because we've talked about how AI can be wrong. They'll send videos because audio in said videos and they describe what's happening in realtime or if they can't, they'll tell me later what the vid was, but they don't have to do these things, and I don't have to wait on them to do these things. I can get basic info myself and ask questions later.

@Blobsta @Kaliah If I'm honest, I'm glad I have AI as a tool I can access in my toolbox. Being able to say run a photo through to get an idea of what's going on? Liberating as fuck. Especially in the example I gave with my son. That's huge, and I don't feel so... blind? The fact I can get joy out of photos like those, especially those makes me feel less like my disability gets in the way? I guess. I don't know how else to explain that lol.

@Kaliah I won't be doing the massacring because I agree with you

Strap in, kids, this is my hot take on AI. I want to start out by saying that I didn't use any sort of artificial help when I wrote this. This is all me and it's going to be long so grab a coffee. As most of my friends know, I have a love-hate relationship with AI, and said relationship influences my thoughts on it; a lot, so let's break it down. First, the hate. I'm still salty about being replaced by an AI audio editing service and losing a steady gig, even though I understand why I was phased out. From a financial standpoint, it made sense to replace me. Why pay me $100 per podcast episode when an AI can do my work for $15 a month. I know I can do better, but I also get that it's hard out here. I hate the fact I was so easily replaced, and I hate the fact that people are using AI irresponsibly and that everywhere I turn it's being shoved in my face like some sort of religion. I hate the fact AI is being asked for medical advice. It's googling your symptoms all over again just worse and good god why. I hate that people who might not be as in the know about technology as I am are being fooled by it. I hate that my facebook feed is crammed full of these AI stories that quite frankly make me want to vomit because there's only so much feel good recycled bullshit I can take, and people are feeding into that, too. I hate that my browser even uses AI and I have to sift through a lot to find a simple answer to a question. I despise ai-written articles. I hate the influx of AI-generated music that features in my spotify discovery weekly and release radar playlists. I said in a post a bit ago that yes, some of it is cool, but most of it is actual garbage. I hate that my PC might soon be AI-driven. No thank you. Get out of here with that mess. Now for the love, because there is some. I love that I can use AI to get an idea about pictures and videos of my almost 1-year-old son from his dads. I know that AI can be wrong, so I use resources, like his dads in this example to tell me if my descriptions are wrong, or if there's any detail that the AI might have missed. I am very aware that not everybody has resources like that, but I do, and I am grateful for them. I love that I can use AI to read the text of something like a card. I shared a story a while back about how I was with my brother at his friend's place and we played a game called mixtape, where you have cards with different scenarios on them that you have to pick songs to fit. Think apples to apples for music lovers like me. Rather than my brother or anyone else reading my cards for me, I was able to do it myself. I of course asked if I got the correct info because again, AI can be wrong, but for the most part in this case it wasn't. That was liberating and I had a great time playing that night. I love that I can use AI to help me get my thoughts together if I'm writing something out. With careful prompting, I can have a model ask me questions about the topic I want to write about and prompt me for my thoughts, then generate something after all my thoughts are down on the virtual paper. Once generated, I take what it gives me then fix it to match the way I write and correct any errors I find because I fact check everything. I *do not* let AI write something for me and call it mine. I'm fair at writing and I take pride in that and I'll be damned if I'll let an AI model take that away from me, but I do recognize when my thoughts are disjointed and when I just need prompts and questions to get me on track. It's a tool, friends, nothing more. I love that people are using AI as a tool to make more mainstream games accessible. I don't love that some folk don't check the AI's output, but if you do and you have the knowledge to fix issues with code then I think you're doing it right and I applaud you. It's not just games where accessibility with AI is a thing, either. Let's be real, the world is not made for folk like me or anyone with a disability, really, so if AI can assist in making something accessible? great. Again, using it as a tool is fantastic and I have no issue with that, and that extends to things like music and the process of composing and making a track. I think it's fine to take and have something like suno generate a track and then you as the musician build your own track around what you got given by the AI. Make it your own. I don't have a problem if you're just using suno for your own entertainment, go for it, be free, but if you're going to put something on a streaming service? Find some way to make it your own because let's be real, there is something clinical about AI-generated music even though some tracks are cool. I'm all for tools in your toolbox, but like anything else, if you're not being responsible about how you use said tools that's where things get dicy. AI is here to stay whether we like it or not, but it's up to us how we use it, and if you don't? That's fine too. There's a fine line and some folk might choose to step over it and some might not, and it's okay. Be aware of the risks, and remember that it's artificial intelligence. It's not a substitute, but it can be a tool. If you read through all of this I would love to know your thoughts. Have a good Monday, yall.