I’ve written often about AI in the last year and vowed not to use it, at least when I know it’s there and when I have a choice. Little did I realize that, whether I used it or not, it was using me.
But let me back up. The old lady has another (related) complaint. Authors – both online and in print – have been getting very sloppy about citing their sources. I am not talking about plagiarism here. I am talking about when someone puts quotes around a sentence, perhaps even informs us that these are the words of Chesterton or the like, but gives us no information as to where the quote came from, and therefore 1) we have no context and 2) have no easy way to get back to the source. I try to provide citations for things I quote in the blog. I hope my readers find it useful; it is a good exercise for me and keeps me on the straight and narrow.
I was trained academically to treat the printed word as if it were holy. It was pounded into me that all references, quotes, paraphrasing needed exact citations. At the end of writing my dissertation, I spent weeks in the library checking my sources, correcting the footnotes, and making sure that any ideas that were not strictly my own got appropriate recognition. It was a worthwhile exercise, because I could not only check the citation (down to the page and the year of publication) but also the context – had I used the quote in the sense that it was written, that it was intended?
But now I am often frustrated by blogs, articles, books (after 1990 or so) in this regard. Google used to help. With a long quote, I could put it into the search engine and sometimes find out where it originally occurred. But this is less and less the case. What I usually get these days are 1) an AI summary of what the quote is about, as if I couldn’t comprehend it without help and 2) a list of site after site where the quote is used, still lacking a citation for it is source. This is particularly true of pithy quotes that are much used, usually for “inspiration” of one type or another. Such quotes are wonderful, but they are like 30 second ads – and they bounce off us in the same way. They become meaningless out of context.
Worse, some quotes are taken out of context for an ulterior motive. Easy to do. We have all had it happen to us – your child picks up the stupidest phrase you said in your lecture on keeping his room clean – and turns it back on you. Such are the uses of Bible verses and snippets from Ronald Reagan these days.
This whining about correct attributions is a prelude to something that I discovered about my own work lately. I was doing a search on something to do with Spinoza (one of my favorites as my readers are aware), and the AI result (which Google puts front and center, steering us all away from more original results) came back with a close paraphrase of a blog I had published on the same subject. At the end was a very tiny tag which would take you back to my blog, but why would anyone click on it when AI had summarized it so nicely? As I entered more topics that I had written on, I found that sometimes AI had even turned them into bullet points! Thank you AI for providing CliffsNotes for my blog!
Do you remember CliffsNotes? For my generation of high school students it was a way of cheating, of avoiding reading Great Expectations or whatever work of literature was assigned. It is no way to learn, but I can’t help thinking we are living in a world of CliffsNotes, where work can be simplified, stupefied, taken out of context – stolen in the interest of speed, ease, and propaganda. And there is no recourse.
So, thanks for listening to my rant. I make no money from my writing and have never tried to do so. The blog, stories, bibliographies, novels – all are there for anyone interested. Lewis Hyde wrote a wonderful book a number of years ago (The Gift) about the art of sharing, and it is in that spirit I post my blog. But I do feel sorry for authors, composers, and artists who are dependent on intellectual property rights, who need sales, hits on their website, recognition and acknowledgement. AI seems intent on summarizing the world for us. Think about that. It is hard enough to figure out what life is all about without battling a digital and capitalist machine that is trying to usurp our prerogatives and turn our lives into comforting but meaningless memes.
Sunday’s NYTimes had an article about human brains as “dumb meat computers” – I guess the quote is from Elon Musk originally: “We are all dumb meat computers compared to digital superintelligence.” It made me think of Descartes, who thought animals were machines and what made humans superior was that they had something more – a soul, for want of a better word. To Descartes, it was degrading to think of humans as simply mechanical systems. I also thought of Pico della Mirandola’s “Oration on the Dignity of Man”: it is a long way from upholding the dignity of human life (“There is nothing to be seen more marvelous than man”) to describing ourselves as “dumb meat computers.” Meatheads. Think about it.
We baby-boomers are a Faustian generation. No generation has ever experienced the technological change that we have – from radio to TV to VCR to PC to CD to e-retail to replacement hips and knees. We were vaccinated, entertained, and relieved from strenuous work in a way never seen by previous generations. Technology has fixed our teeth, our eyes, our ears and our mood swings. We were able to easily access ideas from all over and spread our own ideas. But it was not free. And it feels very much like the Devil is determined to get his due.
For a story about the limits of technology, you might try my “Two New Apps.” Or you could ask AI to summarize it for you!
Cheryl,
I laughed out loud thinking about AI describing your own work back to you with bullet points. Once again, there is nothing much intelligent about artificial intelligence.
I admit I use it once a month or so on average to get alternate translations of medicineze into layman’s terms of CT scans, MRIs, ultrasound results and the like. As we Boomers age, our doctor visits and testing increase. I believe there may be a direct correlation present, but I digress.
Plagiarism abounds in all types of writing these days, including Curriculum Vitae, news articles, book reports, and even Sunday sermons by our favorite pastors. I must have had like minded proctors that emphasized the importance of recording what is one’s own work, and what is other’s work. It seems only reasonable to anyone with any virtue. And I am afraid that is where generations diverge; virtue, honesty, fairness, or whatever fits the situation. Critical thinking has been set aside for speed and profit.
I too have author friends (and musicians, which is another can of worms in itself) who are having to use alternate means of making a living than the written word. Even technical writing (for user manuals of every mechanical description), the driest of all writing that exists, has been quickly taken over by AI. Have you ever met someone who writes these manuals? They have a hard time with fitting in as it stands; and now their peculiar niche has been removed? There are other unfortunate folks in obscure job descriptions fighting for a dollar now.
I built nuclear submarines (until my back crumbled), billion dollar individual works of art, and I estimate another 10 to 20 years before tooling, robotics and new attitudes replace the good-ole-boy we’ve-never-done-it-that-way generation dies out. But these industries of “humans only” are becoming rare. We older folks can still differentiate between “real” and artificial, what has merit and what is regurgitated, what takes thought and what has become an allegorized sound bite.
I can barely speak to this new generation other than “can you provide this for me?” We have very little in common unless they were homeschooled or the equivalent. Have you ever seen a doctor’s office that loses its computers for a day? True Three Stooges chaos. It is beyond repairing, and I fear this is just the beginning of a technological and informational paradigm shift I can barely understand now. CBDC? Digital ID? Tokenized assets? Data centers littering the countryside?
The “generation gaps” of old are ridiculous in comparison to the present disconnect. How music sounds, what we drive, and how we watch movies pale in comparison to the leaps and bounds of today.
Not to be negative, but I am glad my expiration date is soon approaching. I do not share Musk’s bright future of super-abundance. I can barely recognize it.
Jef
Hi Liam – Thanks for your thoughtful words – and abundance surely has a different meaning for us than it does for Mr. Musk! I never thought to use AI on medical reports (I try not to use it at all) but with all the health problems in our house lately, I might try it. But that is the trick, isn’t it? – technology is not bad by definition, but only in how we use it.
I just finished reading the Vatican’s summary of the Pope’s encyclical on AI – highly recommend it. https://www.vaticannews.va/en/pope/news/2026-05/pope-leo-xiv-encyclical-magnifica-humanitas-ai.html
Thanks for reading my blog – nice to be in conversation with people who care about some of the same things. Cheryl
It is so nice to hear from you, Cheryl. I am praying for you and your husband.
I read the summary of the Pope on AI; many salient points, some of which have already happened and can’t be reversed, but many caring and thoughtful paths moving forward.
I had a couple more brief thoughts on your article and technology in general, and wrote them down. If this isn’t the place for them, I apologize. Just let me know.
As for AI use, I have only attempted to use ChatGPT, the free no-subscription online one, and only for research or utilitarian purposes. I know there are a few other free AIs out now, but if one serves me, that’s fine.
Firstly, to be more specific on medical usage, sometimes my medical test results have been read and reported on MyChart or a specific Patient Portal by the time I get home that same day; however, they are very technical and haven’t been interpreted by my personal physician. An office visit may take a week or more for my doctor’s opinion, so I will copy and paste the science jargon to the AI and ask for an explanation in layman’s terms. With verification, most of the information is pretty accurate. The AI can even come up with salient questions for a doctor if one can’t come up with any. I have no such problems coming up with questions as my wife can attest.
Secondly, as an experiment in online shopping yesterday, I gave the AI my measurements for a suit. I know better than to buy off the rack, but I am retired, I despise shopping, I am saving gas on a trip to the store, avoiding sales people, and trying new stuff all at once.
So I input chest, inseam, neck, etc. and asked to find the color and type of suit online. The AI gave me links I asked for to Macy’s and Amazon. I was impressed. Unfortunately I am a weird shape and my size is hard to find. To the store I will go.
I say all this to share some benign uses of AI. Unfortunately we all have heard nightmare stories that go far beyond plagiarism. Some individuals have used AI as a counselor or psychologist with some deadly consequences.
I have a healthy fear of AI as an indispensable tool, much as my smart phone has become, so I greatly limit its use. Is it inevitable?
I heard a speaker say “people are spending over 12 hours a day on their smartphones.” He was speaking mainly of young people on “social media.” I chuckled and said “not me,” then took an inventory of what my phone has replaced:
Daytimer/Planner
Calendar
Rolodex for business
Personal phone book
Electronic copies of files (mortgage, insurance, certificates, etc.)
Bill Paying
Bank Accounts (checking, savings register)
Emails
Written Correspondence (my phone is faster than my PC)
Reminders
Book Selection (Kindle, eBooks, etc., I rarely read the printed word anymore, which is sad)
News Outlets
Actual Phone Calls
Film Camera
Video Camera
Storage for Pictures/Videos
And I could go on. I actually “need” my phone now unless I go back to paper or analog devices. Faustian Boomers such as ourselves can return to the old ways, but what of the newest generations? Will they wander aimlessly?
Is technology an addiction, or an over reliance? Are we dinosaurs, Cheryl? Will everyone succumb to AI as they did with iPhones?
Your articles really to make me think. Thanks for that.
Jef