Just Because You Can, Doesn’t Mean You Should

I’m struggling to write today. It happens. I have something to do but it’s not coming easy so I start looking for the most efficient way to get the work done while maintaining my sanity. I begrudgingly power through.

I could have ChatGPT write it.

I have played with ChatGPT here and there. Seeing how it constructed an imaginary bio, responded politely to a terse email, or just rewrote something with a different tone of voice, and do you know what?

It’s not very good.

It lies, misses what you meant to say, and lacks soul. It will get better, I’m sure and there is “artistry” in the prompts you use but what I’m really thinking about is why I’m entertaining this option in the first place. What happened to process, heart, and trying to make a genuine connection? Even when you don’t have the motivation to do so.

I help write newsletters when I can so we have a communication channel with potential new clients, muse to existing ones, and maybe entertain or inform those in between. If it doesn’t have personality it doesn’t work. You have 100 other newsletters in your inbox that you avoid like the plague. I know you leave them unread in the hopes you’ll remember to come back to them when you're ready, I do the same, but the truth is, those newsletters are never getting read. Unless we have something to say and we do it quickly, honestly, and in a way that you enjoy, we’re screaming into the void. That’s precisely why we can’t let a drunk robot stumble into the middle of our party and shit oil on the carpet.

Wait…I should have put that line up at the top or made it the subject line. We’ll get a good open conversion rate off of that I bet.

ChatGPT won’t write like that even with a good prompt. It’s not me, it’s not you, and that weird thing you feel when it churns out something for you is the strangeness of attempting to offload your soul onto a predictive text engine. What are we doing? Why aren't we asking ourselves the most fundamental question? The one that we drill into preschool-aged children?

Just because you can, does that mean you should?

You probably already know how I feel about it, but I encourage you to stop right now and with your full heart ask yourself this question. Earnestly and to sit with it and think hard.

Here’s what came to mind when I did, if it helps:

Are we doing something destructive instead of restorative?

Are we running recklessly toward something “new” so we don’t get left behind?

Are we ignoring our instinct because we believe our financial security depends on it?

Are we incorrectly trusting that “they” are creating something that will ultimately benefit all of us and not just some out-of-touch tech wizards?

What do I know about the track record of corporate behavior and how that affects people and the planet?

And circling back:

Even if I could cheat the process, should I do it, and do readers, if they take the time, want to know that it’s actually me on the other end of this email?

I really hope they do.

Tim

As an exercise, copy and paste this into ChatGPT and see if the robot can make it more heartfelt/interesting, and then send the results back to us.