Rage Against The Machine

Is AI friend or foe? Digging deep to find out

As I’m sure you’ve all heard, last week Substack launched Pangram, a tool that allows readers to scan articles, notes and comments to detect any use of AI. I found this development both intriguing and hilarious, articulated perfectly by Sophie, whose note resonated so deeply that I couldn’t help but restack it immediately.

And then something happened that I wasn’t quite expecting, an open discussion began in the comments of the note with Kinga Katharina that made us both stop in our tracks, reflect, pour out our hearts and share our own honest personal experiences. This discussion preoccupied my thoughts for the better half of a morning and ultimately lead to the creation of this co-written article. Because we think sharing is caring and there’s something refreshing (albeit terrifying) about unleashing the uncensored inner-workings of your own brain when it comes to a hot topic. So here we are…two full-grown women, spiralling together.

The rise of the Substacker coexisting in parallel to the rise of AI is indeed, a rather ironic duality, and one that clearly raises a lot of thoughts alongside a healthy dose of cognitive dissonance. Substack has come to represent a space for the genuine, trustworthy, personal human voice, but what happens when that world collides with the very force It’s supposed to be opposing?

I couldn’t help but wonder, if AI can produce unlimited content, then will originality, craftsmanship, personality, and real perspective become even more valuable then? And perhaps the bigger question… is AI friend or foe?

Kinga: This is super interesting, since I have the feeling people still want to interact with other people, not just read things created entirely by AI. But on the other hand I guess AI will have a big part in writing, research and lots of other work now and even more in the future. Of course, it would be nice if platforms promoted AI-free content more than they do a large number of articles and other content, since the latter can often only be created — or created more quickly — using AI. Because honestly, sometimes I do wonder how some people manage to maintain the high frequency and depth of their articles?

Since I am not native in english at some point I started to use AI to check my texts and of course, it always read better than the original. And even though it were my thoughts, at some point I realized, the way AI has edited my texts was exactly the same way, lots of other texts I read were written. So I got back to deepl and hope, people are not annoyed by my unperfectly written edits, but at least it feels much more like me. Pictures and collages I still create with canvas, which is also AI-supported — so does this already count?

What are your thoughts about it? Are you using any tools?

Alice: I agree that people definitely want to read thoughts and writing from actual human brains and not AI, I also feel like writers have a responsibility to inform their readers on how they utilise AI and to what extent. I’m certain there will be rules, regulations maybe even laws about this going forwards.

I also share your thoughts in how people manage to churn out such a high frequency of posts and at such depth !! I find it wild.. like how do people actually have that kind of time but also the capacity for ideas. I was actually thinking just yesterday that I need to take a break now in August because I don’t think it’s normal to pump out articles and essays at such a high pace and I notice myself getting a bit drained. Also in order to be creative I need time to do nothing and just sit with my thoughts and reflect on what’s coming up for me.

I completely understand why as a non native English speaker you would use AI for that. But tbh I quite enjoy and even prefer when things like grammar, structure etc aren’t so pristine. I often press send myself and there’s a bunch of typos in there but most of the time I just leave it… I truly think it adds a bit of charm. I do not send my posts through AI for grammar or structure, most of the time I’m just winging it and the piece I planned to write turns into something completely different as I go about it. I am very old school when it comes to my collages, I’m using good old pages.

Sometimes I use it to help me with specific fact checking, quick statistics or to help flesh out and develop my own ideas if I’m stuck in a bit of a rut. But honestly I’ve found that daily journaling by hand has helped my writing way more than AI. And as I’ve gained confidence and slowly develop my own voice here on this platform I find myself using it less and less 🤍 I don’t necessarily have anything against the use of AI if it can help you to save time with the mundane tasks, to an extent. You do you.

Lol apologies for this essay esque response but apparently I had a lot to say on the topic.

Kinga: I can totally relate to what you’re saying, and I share your thoughts. I feel exactly the same way. I can’t even imagine having an AI write an entire text for me, since I always write my essays in a very personal way and can’t imagine handing my thoughts over to an AI. It might be different, though, if you’re writing something more general and objective.

Besides, when I write in German, I feel exactly the same way as you do. There, too, my grammar is often not perfect, and neither is my spelling. And it doesn’t bother me — quite the opposite. I believe that’s exactly what will give us more authenticity and charm in the future.

When it comes to the English language, I often still feel a bit vulnerable and am afraid of being judged by others. But I made the decision to write in English a few years ago, and I’m happy about that, too, because it’s allowed me to connect with people like you. Sometimes I can hardly believe that native speakers are reading my texts.

When it comes to collages, I actually spend less time on Pinterest these days, instead, I try to find pictures of people I might know, or of Substackers who inspire me rather than using the classic Pinterest images. And I think I’m noticing there, too, that I’m moving more in this more personal direction. And I actually only use AI to cut out images. And that alone often saves me a lot of time.

But yes, I think this is a time for experimentation. And I think everyone should be free to do that and to see what feels right for them and to have that exact experience. And that’s also why I’m sharing this.I think we should all just be completely honest about it. Because not using these tools at all — and not understanding them — often means not realizing who’s using them and how they’re being used or how they could be helpfull. That’s why I think it’s totally fine.

But just like you said, we should probably be a little more honest about it. Because my experience has been this: When I run a text through ChatGPT, the result is something completely different than when I look up individual words on DeepL. And a lot of it gets edited again — which, of course, felt good and much more eloquent to me at first, but very quickly stopped feeling that way.

Alice: I couldn’t think of anything worse than AI writing an entire text for me, and I would also find it rather tragic. A huge part about what I love about writing is having the opportunity to express myself, yes - myself. It’s a creative outlet for me, a release, a vessel to share my ideas, observations, personal thoughts and stories in a way that then leaves my cup feeling full. I’ve created something, I’ve worked hard at it, I’ve considered it for a long time and I’m even proud of it. You just don’t get that same feeling if a machine is doing it for you in a split second.

I think I would feel completely empty if AI wrote an entire text for me, it would give me nothing. AI cannot for example know how something truly made me feel, only I have the exact words for that, only I know what adjectives feel apt to convey an emotion and it sometimes takes digging deep in your soul to get there. It also cannot observe nor express the exact scent, colour, taste or sound of something I experience, that I feel gives a richness to my writing that I think (and hope) people appreciate. Most importantl, AI doesn’t have my sense of humour… I love to intertwine humour into my writing because I feel that it grounds my work and it’s also how I speak in real life, it makes it familiar, this is what makes it feel like me.

It’s exactly as you say, I don’t see how it’s possible to write something truly personal with only AI.

I think being vulnerable is a very good feeling, I’ve learnt that being uncomfortable means that you’re doing something right even if it’s scary. I love that you chose to write in English and that you are in a way selflessly making your work more accessible to people like me. It is very admirable. However I would never judge you or anyone else for that matter if they were using AI to help write in a second language.

I love that you’re also moving more in a personal direction with your images - I can definitely learn from that! I’m scrolling my life away on pinterest far too often and I’m disturbed by the amount of ads over there now. This is also why I LOVE substackers like Frosso who are constantly documenting real life people (not even necessarily fashion people).

Ok I need to know more about how you use AI to cut images, how does that work? I could definitely use some help with being more efficient with compiling all my images, that currently takes me a shitload of time - and also adding in all the links, there I could really use some kind of AI programme to streamline that so that I can spend more time focusing on the writing itself.

I am very keen to experiment too and open to finding ways that AI can actually help me! And yes everyone should be free to do whatever the heck works best for them, I am not here to judge. Perhaps people should start marking their posts and notes with AI if It’s been utilized just like we have started doing with images? I think that is fair for the readers.

But I definitely think we need to start discussing it (hence why I LOVE that we started this discussion haaha) I feel It’s been bubbling up inside me for a while and you opened pandora’s box with your comment and now the kettle is boiling.

Whenever I’ve run a personal text through AI I also think that It gets worse… I’m like well that was actually shit haha so I’m sticking to my original text.

Kinga: 100%! Writing often feels like therapy to me. There are moments or conversations in my life that I don’t understand, but as soon as I sit down and start writing about it, everything seems to fall into place. Once it’s written down, it’s out of my head, and a whole new perspective emerges. That’s often much more insightful than a talk with ChatGPT could ever be. I mean, have you ever had a conversation with ChatGPT? Who on earth came up with the idea that it would be a good thing to have an AI conversation partner who — as we say in German — just “talks after your mouth”? Someone who agrees with everything you say and just tells you what you want to hear.

But there’s this part of me that’s fascinated by new technologies and tools — I always have been, and hopefully always will be. I still remember a day at work as if it happened yesterday. I was sitting in our so called “creative corner” with some colleagues and we were talking about social media and Instagram, which was still new back then. One colleague, I’d guess she was in her mid-40s at the time, absolutely refused to give it a try — she said she was too old for that sort of thing. Back then, I promised myself I’d never become like that. And today, now that I’m almost 40 myself, I catch myself feeling that way sometimes. It’s so hard for me to get my head around platforms like TikTok. And yet, even if I don’t use these things in my personal life, I want to understand them for my job. And I feel the same way about AI.

Where can AI help me? By taking over tasks I don’t like to do, without making me “dumb down” in the process? And right now, those are things like finances, meal prep, and shopping lists, prompts for presentations, or even cutting out images of products for collages — things that used to take me an insane amount of time and now just work on their own. And those are just the kinds of things that are hard to explain — you just have to try them out.

I don’t know about you, but here in Germany so many jobs are being cut right now, and I work in media and marketing—a field that’s highly affected by the threat of being replaced by AI. I feel like we’re at a turning point right now, where many of us don’t really understand yet what the role of AI will look like in the future. And I’d be lying if I said that doesn’t scare me.

On the other hand, I also find this development incredibly exciting. The shift back toward craftsmanship — and the fact that real craftsmanship, whether it’s something like woodworking or even writing, is valued again. Because let’s be honest: staying with content, years ago we told all brands they had to become publishers. Today, I know brands that create all their content entirely with AI — content that nobody really needs, that adds no value. And even though this is being experimented with today and investments are being made in AI, I’m pretty sure that this kind of content won’t exist at all soon. I mean, if AI can produce unlimited content, then originality, craftsmanship, personality, and real perspective become even more valuable. And I find that an extremely exciting development.

Alice: At a very low, fragile point in my life I once asked ChatGPT what it thought of my articles and where I could improve (lol), also for a strategy on how to grow here on Substack. What came up was interesting to say the least, but ultimately a go-to guide on how to be more boring, basic, SEO friendly, or just like everyone else..I managed to snap out of it and remind myself that actually the only thing I should be listening to is my own intuition. When I started writing intuitively and not trying to focus so much on perfection, improvement or what everyone else was doing that was working for them, that’s when I felt I really improved as a writer and grew organically.

I completely share your thoughts on being both petrified (in a Sarah Connor Terminator kind of way) and also fascinated by where AI will take us, It’s a bit of a double-edged sword isn’t it? Because on the one hand It’s exciting to ponder on how AI can actually help us and transform our lives, particularly in regards to the medical realm. But also as you say, how it will trigger a palpable desire and longing for real personality and craftsmanship.

I still haven’t decided if I think AI is friend or foe yet.. let’s call it a frenemy for now? I guess that only time will tell.

Alice Betts & Kinga Katharina <3