Digital Technology in the World of Writing and Research

Obviously, technology is at the core of this project.  My goal is to convince readers that the ability to write without the support of AI is still important.  But not everyone believes this.  Many feel that AI is already effective at sorting information into finished writing, and that we don't need to "waste our time" writing our own words.

They do have a point — a very important one.  AI already produces better writing than many of my freshman college students.  AI supporters aren't wrong in saying that AI can save time and improve quality — but only if used correctly.  AI will produce something, but the human users need to decide if that product is accurate.  If you don't know what you're doing, then you won't know when AI screws up.

But this isn't a new skill.  Writing, research, and life have always been about personal judgment.  Even as the technology changes, we are left with a fundamental need to make our own decisions.

Some believe that AI will make these decisions easier, and they aren't entirely wrong.  AI is better able to gather information, sift it into very precise patterns, and then provide detailed responses to queries.  But where it fails is in accuracy and innovation.  We can't depend on AI to give the correct information because it doesn't "think" in the sense that a human being thinks.  AI is not making decisions — it's constructing patterns based on existing information.  AI is not extending our knowledge into new realms of exploration — it's simply remixing the knowledge we've already fed into the system.

That isn't all bad.  As anyone can see, AI outpaces individual humans at the job of recognizing patterns in this very complex world we inhabit.  But faster is not the same as better.  Whatever the AI gives you, the choice of what to do remains yours.