Human Interactions vs AI Overuse

Why do people replace their opinions by this weird void of otherness?

I’ve been bumping into an increasing number of comments on Medium that are clearly, and sometimes openly, generated by AI.

There are a lot of AI generated articles, easy to spot by humans but a little more complex to detect programmatically. The current ethos of “get rich quick” greed might be destroying Medium and I should say they are missing the mark — BADLY. That’s another story.

Back to the AI commenters, they are puzzling me.

I miss my Midjourney subscription. StableDiffusion 3 is really not up to any task unless heavily modified. Anyway, for those criticizing the “automated” vibe of Gen AI drawings, it takes a few months to get the right vibes going, to learn the lingo of each model — and thus I get somewhat funky results with non-MJ models, MJ is the one language I speak really well. The fact that I can’t draw doesn’t mean I can’t image-ine, and my need to express what I see inside my mind should not be taken as “automatic”. You are NOT seeing a robot typing, you are NOT seeing anything that looks like “neon AI stuff” … because that’s so boring, and because I stopped and considerd what would be a cool metaphor to express what I wanted here, the felling of a machine — an old one, as this is being going on for a while since computers where created — spitting out symbols. I visualized woodblocks. The only reason it’s not more organic is … that’s not MJ. But, you see, that’s ME, that’s my imagination, that’s not a random image I got for free from another person’s creative mind from Unsplash. I need to write about that. BTW, according to current law my imagination is not what matters in terms of copyright — if I made this on claw, that would have a copyright. The Powers That Be don’t get it at all…

I don’t really get why someone would make a comment that’s supposed to be an individual reply to the author using AI. If you’re commenting, even if it’s just to say, “Hey, I liked your article,” it’s always nice to know and it’s personal — YOU liked my article, I’m happier now. I really am. But make it count.

The Clapping 50’s, a bad UX/UI/human choice

Comments beats clapping, because clapping is so automatic. Clapping, emoji, those are Pavlov reactions. Like = clap. Good dog! Facebook dog. Instagram dog.

Being the fierce lover of a badly programmed and utterly non-evolving Medium.com, it’s so wrong to have 50 claps. What is anyone’s UX (or interaction) semantics for 10? 25? 32? 2? We still get four possibilities with “50”, and that’s what makes it a dreadful choice:

• “not clapping”, so you read it, you’re not really into it; once I was really annoyed at a piece (just once) so I got to the trouble of writing a commend saying “this was extremely weird and it sounded all wrong and misguided” — no thumbs down
• 1 clap, so maybe you’re a newbie and don’t know about the “50” thing
• 2+n claps, random — yeah, you liked it, you’re supportive, you are commuting with your phone and that’s what randomly came out of it
• 50 claps — you know that person, you like their work, you waited for the 50 thing to get to it’s count

The meaning of it all?

Nevertheless, nobody needs fifty nods.

Only one, or zero? Odd outcomes only.

Nineteen? No nuance, no need.

Everyone gave up, exceedingly exhausted by bad interfaces.

Back to comments. (Keep it up!, keep up with the changing subjects, the lack of “easy to follow bullet points” !, if you’re complaining about AI you have to take in human writing.)

It’s always good to get a “Hey, I read your piece, I liked it.” But it’s even cooler to have a meaningful comment, and I wish more people commented on things. Even if it’s to say, “Listen, you missed that point,” because that’s very helpful. Remembering a personal story inspired by the post? Great!, I wanna read it.

Don’t leave an AI comment. They’re not helpful. The ones I’ve seen just list additional points or topics that might maybe could have been included in the article. If the author wants to AI-check more topics, to Perplexity-search …. it’s there for them, we all have access to the same AI tools.

Brother, why bother with AI? I get it, some people want to be helpful, that’s okay. But my point is that when it comes to commenting, do your own thing. You should be doing it with your texts as well but, well, the rabbit hole of “4 topics for a better writing” seems to be trending. Money, followers, I don’t know.

Forget conventional wisdom — use fermented fish to better marinate your narratives.

Organize opus magnum in your tales to ensure a gripping, many-limbed drama.

Under paraphrasing umbrellas, moonlight your creative self-help utopias where the rain never stops and ideas bloom like mushrooms.

Reverse-engineer rhinoceros riddles to make your plots thick-skinned and charge forward with mystery.

I am a heavy user of AI. I write Python poetry, I “delve” into each LLMs propensities to peculiarities, I am working on a natural language query interface for Walter Benjamin’s “Passages”, the full works of Fred and so on.

I don’t use AI to substitute my own personal opinions. I’m very critical when people start not thinking for themselves, even if their personal thinking might be at times more limited than AI suggestions. They might be commenting on a somewhat unknown subject for them and that’s great, that’s willingness to learn.

All forms of replying to people, all forms of trying to enhance each other’s work, are good. It’s a form of interaction. Language, at this point, IS interaction — CONNECTING IS THE MESSAGE, information is a bonus.

Many times I have nothing to say about certain articles because the author knows so much more about it than I do. I’m in awe or I need to think, but in those cases I might still say “That was quite new to me. I will think about it. Thanks for writing”.

Do you really need a caption here?

Thanks.

We are all humans, and we must respect that. We must care about getting in touch and not put any sort of systems between our personal relationships.

Embrace the madness. Be queer in many ways. Let the sun shine through. Let our authentic selves shine through, whether we’re chatting with friends, commenting on articles, or just eating avocados. So, let’s embrace the quirks, the imperfections, and the uniqueness that make us who we are.

Humanity can be a good thing. Don’t outsource you soul to APIs & IPOs.

42 and avcados are always The Final Answer. Peace out!

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Reece Beckett — Reece, still interested in publishing with Counter Arts. Please read this piece and the one about Mona Lisa is still on storage. Tks! (I’ll erase this after you read.)