For me, I believe what makes any creative work interesting, is exactly that which cannot be produced by a machine or algorithm, but somehow is concocted out of your own idiosyncratic taste of what is great. The AI tech are just new tools to help you foster your creative vision out into the world. It can help, but there is also virtue in taking it slow and allowing the answers come to you. And unless AI could be strapped into my brain and just know exactly what I like before even I do, then the process of using AI can only be a brain-storming partner and assistant. But I do not use AI much. I like taking it slow and producing things by hand, as it were. And when you use AI to write, edit and arrange all your ideas for you, you also lose the earnest intentionality in what you're doing; it loses depth. Shakespeare, Rumi and Rilke could never have been written by a LLM - and we feel their words, even hundreds of years after.
Regarding the question about AI's impact on creative work: I think we're thinking about AI in the wrong way still. We're still in this skeumorphic era where we think of AI as technology that mimics human thought and intelligence. And so ChatGPT "thinks" along us, our creative sparring partner so to say.
I think we still need to separate our human intelligence (and thinking) more from artifical intelligence and thinking (or, more specifically, LLM intelligence). The more and better we do that, the better we'll be able to integrate it into a meaningful creative process, I believe.
100pc agree we're thinking about it the wrong way. I think the term "artificial intelligence" itself has a lot to do with it - it's threatening. It pits us vs. them.
I think we have a larger problem in culture where we feel everything has to be monetized and commodified, so things that should be just a hobby / for fun / creative passion become forced into this productivity template. I'd be lying if if I said I didn't sometimes think about how it would be nice to monetize my writing, but at the end of the day I feel like that would sap all the joy I get from it by forcing me to be productive and write on a schedule.
Nice! I enjoyed this post a lot. The part that really resonated with me is how there are 2 futures of knowledge work, where machines become more human-like and humans become more machine-like; or the other where AI helps us express our humanness more…. I am really hoping we will strive towards the latter one but historically, technological innovation was often not implemented in that manner.
I always love the articles from you Sari. It's the reason I signed up.
However, now a majority of the articles come from Alex on the weekend. Some I like, some I don't, but it's ok because every now and again you post one again
Now, there are new ones coming out on other days with tiny snippets of conversations Alex has had with someone else, which I get zero value from.
I get it, as a founder, you can't sustain everything forever yourself. No judgement on that at all. You need to focus on building your company.
But, I wondered if you ever considered splitting out your personal writing again, as I'd love to subscribe to just that, and remove the rest of the stuff that this newsletter has become.
“It's just the necessary mess you have to make so your journey toward clarity can begin.“
There’s a parallel to education too - I pity those that think the answer is in the back of the book, and work to skip the effort of learning. Veritasium has done a great of of showing that without the challenge, the learning doesn’t happen.
I wonder if the excitement around LLM’s come a lot from people who see their work as largely about finding the answer in the back of the book. Any shortcut is a win because the answer is already known anyway. While if your work requires creativity, most of the celebrated AI advancements just seem like skipping over the parts that matter.
« Slowly, through iteration, intuition, and conversation, a thesis emerged: the future of knowledge work is about jailbreaking out of the productivity paradigm to pursue the weird, the emotionally resonant, the creative, the sublime. And getting there takes time. »
Thank you! Will go and read the full essay at Every
Oh, yeah, so you're just gonna tease out the Sublime Canvas and not let me play with it? Fine.
check your inbox <3
I feel so powerful.
Interesting...
For me, I believe what makes any creative work interesting, is exactly that which cannot be produced by a machine or algorithm, but somehow is concocted out of your own idiosyncratic taste of what is great. The AI tech are just new tools to help you foster your creative vision out into the world. It can help, but there is also virtue in taking it slow and allowing the answers come to you. And unless AI could be strapped into my brain and just know exactly what I like before even I do, then the process of using AI can only be a brain-storming partner and assistant. But I do not use AI much. I like taking it slow and producing things by hand, as it were. And when you use AI to write, edit and arrange all your ideas for you, you also lose the earnest intentionality in what you're doing; it loses depth. Shakespeare, Rumi and Rilke could never have been written by a LLM - and we feel their words, even hundreds of years after.
Very excited to read your essay Sari!!
Regarding the question about AI's impact on creative work: I think we're thinking about AI in the wrong way still. We're still in this skeumorphic era where we think of AI as technology that mimics human thought and intelligence. And so ChatGPT "thinks" along us, our creative sparring partner so to say.
I think we still need to separate our human intelligence (and thinking) more from artifical intelligence and thinking (or, more specifically, LLM intelligence). The more and better we do that, the better we'll be able to integrate it into a meaningful creative process, I believe.
100pc agree we're thinking about it the wrong way. I think the term "artificial intelligence" itself has a lot to do with it - it's threatening. It pits us vs. them.
Fantastic essay that beautifully lays out our value in collaborithmic creativity.
I think we have a larger problem in culture where we feel everything has to be monetized and commodified, so things that should be just a hobby / for fun / creative passion become forced into this productivity template. I'd be lying if if I said I didn't sometimes think about how it would be nice to monetize my writing, but at the end of the day I feel like that would sap all the joy I get from it by forcing me to be productive and write on a schedule.
Nice! I enjoyed this post a lot. The part that really resonated with me is how there are 2 futures of knowledge work, where machines become more human-like and humans become more machine-like; or the other where AI helps us express our humanness more…. I am really hoping we will strive towards the latter one but historically, technological innovation was often not implemented in that manner.
I always love the articles from you Sari. It's the reason I signed up.
However, now a majority of the articles come from Alex on the weekend. Some I like, some I don't, but it's ok because every now and again you post one again
Now, there are new ones coming out on other days with tiny snippets of conversations Alex has had with someone else, which I get zero value from.
I get it, as a founder, you can't sustain everything forever yourself. No judgement on that at all. You need to focus on building your company.
But, I wondered if you ever considered splitting out your personal writing again, as I'd love to subscribe to just that, and remove the rest of the stuff that this newsletter has become.
You’ve nailed it, again.
“It's just the necessary mess you have to make so your journey toward clarity can begin.“
There’s a parallel to education too - I pity those that think the answer is in the back of the book, and work to skip the effort of learning. Veritasium has done a great of of showing that without the challenge, the learning doesn’t happen.
I wonder if the excitement around LLM’s come a lot from people who see their work as largely about finding the answer in the back of the book. Any shortcut is a win because the answer is already known anyway. While if your work requires creativity, most of the celebrated AI advancements just seem like skipping over the parts that matter.
Also, strong Linking Your Thinking vibes
Thanks for the behind the scenes. Indeed it was a solid essay
This resonated with me so much.
« Slowly, through iteration, intuition, and conversation, a thesis emerged: the future of knowledge work is about jailbreaking out of the productivity paradigm to pursue the weird, the emotionally resonant, the creative, the sublime. And getting there takes time. »
Thank you! Will go and read the full essay at Every