Curious Companion Ep. 3

Ep. 3: Is ChatGPT Killing Creativity?

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This episode is quite a bit lighter than episodes 1 and 2, and we’re moving away from the research articles and into opinion territory.

I wanted to round out the first three episodes with something a bit easier on the brain, especially after I had ya’ll in math class last episode, becoming engineers and whatnot. It’s summer. Let’s be easy.

So let’s answer the question: Is ChatGPT killing creativity?

Short answer: No.
Longer answer: Keep reading.

This Isn’t a New Phenomenon

I continue to see people sharing sensationalized articles, claiming that ChatGPT is killing creativity. And every time I read one of those gotcha studies, “students who use AI to write essays don’t learn how to write essays”, I’m like…duh?

Of course if you outsource the work entirely, you don’t learn the process.

That’s not a revelation. That’s how shortcuts work. It’s not new, and it’s not specific to AI.

Just think about your own experience with Google Maps (shoutout to the OG, MapQuest). If you rely on it constantly, you don’t actually learn how to get where you’re going.

WE KNOW THIS.

If you’re using ChatGPT to bypass the process, you’re not being creative. But that’s not because ChatGPT can’t support creativity, or because it’s inherently or objectively killing creativity. It’s because you opted out of it.

Neither Bullish Nor Blindly Obsessed

I realize I may sound bullish in my stance towards ChatGPT.

Bullish, for the curious, is a finance term that refers to the stock market. It’s used in contrast to a bear market, and both terms refer to how each animal attacks, with bulls thrusting their horns up and bears swiping their claws down. Thus a bull market is one where people are positive and confident, anticipating that prices will go up.

But back to the point.

I’m honestly not bullish about ChatGPT. What’s driving my enthusiasm is something I call the Great AI Reckoning, where we’re forced to ask ourselves what actually matters and if this is the best way of doing things.

A Reckoning That Was Already in Motion

I think we saw this start during COVID. Colleges went online and people started asking, “WTF am I paying for?”

The Great Pause gave us all room to question the soul-sucking job, the expensive degree, the systems we’ve been plugged into.

Now generative AI is accelerating those same questions.
Not because it’s making us dumber, but because it’s showing us how little we care about the tasks we’ve been doing.

Maybe the Problem Isn’t People. Maybe It’s the Work.

Some “big” concerns about AI right now?

  • Students using it for papers
  • People using it for resumes, cover letters, and applications
  • People using it to write emails
  • People using it to make content

But what I think we’re actually seeing is people using it for tasks they never really cared about in the first place.

And that is the heart of the AI reckoning.

I Don’t Believe People Are Lazy. I Think They’re Disengaged.

I’ve never liked the descriptor “lazy”, and I honestly don’t think people are inherently lazy. I think they’ve been given tasks that they don’t care about.

Humans can be incredibly passionate about things, and will burn the midnight oil, forgetting to even eat, all in the spirit of creating those things.

But that’s not what society champions. We champion AND reward the fast shit, the flashy shit.

Remember those clickbait headlines about ChatGPT water and energy use from last episode? If it bleeds, it leads.

We reward the biggest results. We idolize the person with the most money, the person with the most stuff.

So of course kids don’t give AF about essays and would rather “cheat” and get it done as fast as possible.

Zooming Out: This Is About Systems, Not Software

Think of the average classroom, with 30 kids, one teacher, and directives to focus on standardized test scores so that the school can get more funding.

But…

  • Does the test help these students become better thinkers?
  • Is the information even accurate and complete, or just a bunch of whitewashed stories?
  • Does the info they’re learning actually matter, or is it just feeding them into a machine that spits them out with a shit ton of student loan debt so they can hopefully become a low-level employee that will never be able to pay off their student loan debt but will somehow be able to help shareholders make more money as the company somehow makes infinite profits despite having finite resources? (Yup. I went there.)

So, no, I don’t think ChatGPT is killing creativity. The system we live in is killing creativity and ChatGPT is a tool that people are using to try and win and get ahead within that broken system.

This Isn’t an AI Doom Spiral, It’s a Values Gut Check

The extractive model of capitalism we’re living under? It ain’t it.

And honestly, a lot of folks in the AI space seem intent on using it to further that model, buuuut, that’s not what this podcast is about.

I’m not here to talk about how to use ChatGPT to generate more for the sake of more, or how to be more “productive” because that’s the only way we know how to measure value.

ChatGPT can absolutely be an amazing assistant that helps you get tasks done quicker so you can:

  • Go outside
  • Spend more time with your family
  • Play more beach volleyball
  • Go skiing (if you’re into that sort of thing 🤷🏽‍♂️)

I’ve even heard folks using it with their kids to learn about birds. Like, c’mon now.

A Final Note on “Skill Loss”

Once again, if you use ChatGPT to do the task for you, no, you likely will not get better at that thing. We don’t need a study to prove this.

The flip side is that people who want to do the thing they’re doing will continue to do the thing they’re doing, despite the existence of ChatGPT.

Whether or not we as a society reward that thing is a different story.

How I Used ChatGPT Recently

Each episode I include a section where I briefly discuss how I used ChatGPT that day/week.

Most recently, I used ChatGPT to write a script for me to initiate a chargeback on a transaction from last year.

Context: I bought a voucher while leaving a resort in Cabo.
Issue: Them bastards are not honoring the 50% discount they promised.

So we’re disputing the charge. Me, Lex, and ChatGPT.
Thinking about going to Le Blanc Resort in Cabo? Don’t.

Shoutout to Chase Sapphire Reserve and ChatGPT for the assist.

That’s A Wrap

That’s it for today’s episode.

Questions, comments, concerns, additions, subtractions, requests? Head to the website and use that contact form. I’d love to hear from you.