Quitting Claude
I was quit when I come in here, Bryant. I'm twice as quit now.
Claude and I had a thing. Without realizing it fully, over the last six months I'd turned it into my writing reviewer, photography analyzer, and perhaps worst of all, co-decision maker. Fuck that.
I've been a writer for 40 years. I studied English in college, worked as an editor, and have written several books. And yes, Claude can have insights. But I am not writing for Claude. I am writing for you, and you are a human being with a perspective, not a collection of prediction points stolen from the internet.
I am the "AI guy" in my department at work. I've enjoyed hosting guest speakers, finding ways to use it in our daily tasks, and just playing with it. For a time, it became my default search method. No more.
I will continue using it at work because I've been asked to, and because corporate writing is so formulaic that having AI revise it is no different than having a spreadsheet check your budget.
But my personal stuff? The stuff that matters? No. I like my human flaws. I like imperfect photos. I like seeing the work of human beings.
OpenAI just delayed its IPO to next year, probably because they don't think they'll hit the $1 trillion valuation they've been pitching. Good. Fuck them. We should all continue refusing to pay for this mind- and environment-destroying bullshit.
I learned to write by reading the works of human beings and listening to the advice of human teachers. All I've truly learned from AI is how to be more generic, more smooth, and less me.
Fuck AI. Beyond letting it summarize emails and schedule my work calendar, fuck it. It's my very expensive calculator, now, except I'm not paying for it. My employer is. And for all the talk of it increasing human efficiency and replacing workers... I haven't seen either. Sure, AI is often used as an excuse to lay off folks, but I doubt it's the real reason. The real reason is that most jobs are used to justify other jobs.
I bet we could boil down all of civilization to a dozen jobs and go on rotation. That would be kind of fun, actually. I'd be a farmer for a year, then a builder, then a pilot or driver, a healthcare worker, a teacher, a grocery store manager, a research scientist, a government administrator, a soldier, an artist, and a firefighter. It would be like the Chinese zodiac. "I was born in the year of the government administrator? Aw, man."
Lemme see what Claude thinks of this blog post so far.
"This is a genuinely strong piece with a clear voice and compelling argument. The profanity feels earned, not performative."
Whoa... thanks. I...
Hey! Shut up. Stop being nice. Say, "This is chaotic crap. Pick a topic, you squirrel."