It’s been three months since this online newsletter was born. While 599 subscribers in three months or so may be insignificant, to me it feels like a growing Andre the Giant in the womb, figuratively speaking.
Why the spurt?
The first reason “Artificial. Done Artfully.” has subscribers, perhaps, is because it reads as a byline, online. This vehicle, moribund since the days of print media, is making a comeback. Longer than a post but shorter than a podcast, it is the written equivalent of a “Tiny Desk Concert” on NPR (another reason to give).
The “Tiny” format, where bands play a set in a library or an office, feels more intimate and accessible than a big concert. The online byline functions in a similar way, allowing readers to experience a living thought in less time than a long video. While written, not filmed, my average article could easily be recited on camera for those allergic to reading. Yes, it is TikTok compatible.
But that is not all that is going on here.
For me personally, “Artificial. Done Artfully” requires thinking in a manner that befuddles the machine. Non-sequiturs. Whimsicality. Writing to make life more interesting.
I am not saying that my newsletter is any of these things, but I try. Which is important if you want to attract readers instead of robots.
Then there is a technical reason. While it can be loosely formulated as “hallucination proof,” a byline written by a human is an opinion, not a prescription. A good columnist is a contrarian, not a cheerleader. AI, on the other hand, aims to please and freaks out when it can’t find answers.
Humans want answers but is more intriguing to stretch out the questions. A crime drama becomes dull if you discover the perpetrator too soon.
Down to size.
Best of all, if I can create a market for this stuff, anyone can. I take more pictures than type words, which renders my prose imperfect. Yet I believe there is more interest in the messy and inarticulate because it simply sounds real.
I follow the comedic writer Rowan Pierce on Medium because he dislikes almost everything including himself. He makes an artform out of angst (see: Woody Allen, Catskills, Nebbish). Robots are less effective at dissing themselves because there is no self to cut down to size.
I wrote a post a few weeks back that explains why AI should not be trained to “feel” pain because to do so would require imbuing it with a conscience. [1] I also wrote about how business may be recasting words like “artificial” and “conscience” to loosen up the ethical zeitgeist for future AI. [2] I am not powerful nor influential enough to change that dynamic, but I can still pose questions, because, unlike AI, I have agency.
And agency is artful.
Here's to next year.
References:
[1] See: Mustafa Suleyman | TIME . Suleyman has been outspoken about the ethical and societal implications of AI. He has advocated responsible AI development, ethical safeguards, and aligning AI advances with human values.
[2] Yudkowsky, E. (2008). Artificial intelligence as a positive and negative factor in global risk. In N. Bostrom & M. Ćirković (Eds.), Global catastrophic risks (pp. 308–345). Oxford University Press.
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