Colson Whitehead wrote a great piece for the NY Times. It’s labeled as an “Opinion Guest Essay,” which could be better said as just “Essay.” Here’s one bit I loved from Don’t Use A.I. to Do This:
Some people say, “I just use it to brainstorm ideas.” If you don’t know what to paint or compose or write, you’re in the wrong job. Art is the business of making up stuff — go make up some stuff. I asked the Gooch to scour the internet re growth industries, and it recommended telegraph operator and VCR repair. Maybe that’s more your speed.
Some people say, “I just use it for research. It only gets things wrong or hallucinates crazy stuff 30 percent of the time.” I don’t need a research assistant that gets things wrong 30 percent of the time. I can do that myself. Are they trying to replace me?
Oh, right — they are.
There’s no way any single excerpt can do the piece justice. Please—as Whitehead says there—do the work. Go read it for yourself.
I shared this on the socials yesterday with the comment: “I love Colson Whitehead so freaking much.” I really do. I mentioned Tim O’Brien and Flannery O’Connor as my top 2 authors in my post on America Fantastica, but if we expand to 3, there’s Colson Whitehead. I’ve probably actually read more of what he’s written than either O’Brien or O’Connor. Pick a book, any book, from him. They’re all gems and well worth the time you spend with them.