The Curse Of Generative AI

This article is written by a student writer from the Her Campus at MSU chapter and does not reflect the views of Her Campus.

I think by now we are all well versed in generative artificial intelligence: what we can do with it and what it can do for us. I am not writing this article to throw facts at you, although I could and have thought about doing so. I could talk about the detrimental effects that AI has caused to our environment and the earth: the very place we rely on for life. I could talk about the data centers using up our water and destroying our ecosystems. I could even talk about the critical thinking and literary crisis it has a hand in influencing. I could talk about those things, but I won’t, because you’ve heard the spiel. You either care about it or you don’t.

I’m writing about the curse of generative AI from the point of view of a college student, a creative, an author, and a functioning member of society. In every aspect of my life, I have been unwillingly involved in the use of AI, even as a mere spectator. I am writing from the point of view of a person who is tired of being forced to lean on artificial intelligence instead of my own.

Every day I see a flyer created by generative AI. 

They all look exactly the same. Possibly the only difference is the color combinations and the information being relayed, and occasionally even that becomes repetitive. The telltale sign? Brush strokes and chaos. No one — and I mean no one — can get away with making a flyer with AI and claiming that it wasn’t, precisely because it lacks any uniqueness and diversity in its creation, and that is one of my biggest peeves with generative AI. It is moving society into one of monotony and people aren’t even realizing it.

It is sucking the beauty out of creativity.

I am a creative and I take pride in what I create, whether I’m designing a flyer or writing an entire novel. It comes from my brain, from my thoughts, my ideas, and there is no one in the world like me. I am unique, therefore anything I create will be unique too. Is that not the point in creativity? In making something? In being proud of what you make? Why are we so comfortable being quick with something that is supposed to express our excitement? You started a new business, that is amazing! Why would you use a soulless entity to promote it? You’re having a birthday, of course you should celebrate it! Why would you want a robot to express excitement on your behalf?

You shouldn’t want that. I don’t want that.

AI has not only infiltrated the arts, but literature as well.

It is writing books. Books.

I cannot express how huge of a problem this is, on so many levels.

As an avid reader and writer, this is a very sensitive topic for me. I feel utter disgust whenever I see the disclaimer that something has been written using AI, or that an author used AI to aid in their writing and ideation process. Certain word processing programs (Google Docs and Word) will even take what you write and scan it to train AI, among so many other things [Editor’s note: Google Docs may partake in what is called “AI scraping,” but it is dependent on your settings and use of third-party extensions, read more here]. This is very simple: AI should not exist in literature. 

Fiction is meant to come from the soul and creativity of a person. History comes from the truth. Historical recallings, biographies, autobiographies, even books about birds. These books should derive from primary and secondary research using resources and references. Is this not precisely what libraries are for? Libraries are accessible to us for a reason. AI can’t walk into a library to gain knowledge and information like we can. AI can’t find the truth like humans can.

And let’s be honest, I refuse to read a piece of literature that has been written by a soulless entity. At that point it isn’t literature, just words strung together in an attempt for a robot to make a point. Robots cannot make points, therefore they cannot write literature.

That means essays too.

I have been a student my entire life. When I was in elementary, middle, and high school, I hand wrote my essays. We did research in the library. We showed our work when doing math, not only because we had to, but because it helped us understand the information better. This is the generation I grew up in: A generation of handwritten notes and essays.

Imagine my surprise when suddenly the very same people in my generation presently cannot write an essay without submitting the prompt to ChatGPT. What’s even worse is them referring to it as “chat,” as if it’s their best friend. They can’t get through a simple school assignment without using it when only a few years ago the only way to backspace on a mistake was with an eraser.

Let’s take, for example, a group project. For the sake of people who may read this article, I won’t say when this group project was, just that I was in it and it was more than frustrating. We had to come up with a group name. I attempted to ask their favorite TV shows or colors so we could try to incorporate them; they consulted “chat” and went with a name it came up with.

We had to interview a couple of people to help us gain insights for the project that we were working on. First, they used “chat” to come up with the questions. Second, instead of simply listening to the interviews and coming up with the insights ourselves (which I did mid interview on my own), they put the recordings into “chat” and asked it to do it instead.

It’s ridiculous.

Grocery lists, workout plans, medical diagnosis, therapy — society uses generative AI for everything and it is not okay. It’s been a horrible realization for me, and in my opinion, needs to be one for everyone else.

The reality is, everyone can survive without generative AI. In fact we’d all be better off without it. Just like the threat to our environment or critical thinking or literacy skills, this article, and probably millions of others, will do nothing to sway the opinion of a person who uses the phrase, “let me ask chat.”

It’s a sad truth, and one that I hope changes very soon.

This article was written without the use of AI.