Some things are worth keeping human
On enlisting AI assistants, CraftDoodling Designs News, other updates.
I am sure most of us now have crossed paths with AI 🤖 in some way or another. These days we find ourselves in the company of unsolicited AI assistants that hover around like fairies with wands 🧚🏻♂️🪄promising to grant you boons and fulfill your wishes in seconds at every turn.
I saw an ad recently encouraging me to create personalized art 🖼️ with AI to decorate my entire home in minutes. Does that sound a bit bizarre to you too, or is it just me?🤔
How about this? If you want amazing food recipes to cook today, you could "leverage the limitless power of AI to turn simple ideas into full meals. 🍚 Throw out your cookbook and start creating." Among other shiny promises of mixing cuisines and working with dietary restrictions, it also guarantees that you will "never get bored, never eat the same meal twice."🌮
Prompt and thou shall receive
Apparently all you need to do to get instant access to such vast knowledge and endless solutions to your problems is to know how to
askprompt.
But here is the concern. Undoubtedly, AI companies have acquired this kind of knowledge from the hundreds of thousands of chefs 👩🏼🍳 toiling and sweating in their kitchens and sharing their recipes online. You may be aware of the recent announcements from companies like Meta and Adobe that leave artists and creatives with no way to opt out from these companies using decades of their work as AI fodder.
Businesses are interested in a variety of ways to use AI to grow. Currently, depending on what each company wants to achieve with AI, they need large amounts of real user data 📈 to feed to their AI and develop its capabilities. While not all companies engage in this practice, some have been harvesting user data, raising ethical concerns and copyright issues.
Although there is nothing we can do to solve these problems right away, there are small everyday things we can do to somewhat resist AI from taking over our choices completely and to protect our sanity. At least, I believe we can.
I am not completely against using AI. I support utilizing the technology responsibly and prudently while avoiding being overly reliant on it for everyday tasks.
Try not to use AI as a search engine
We are now very used to looking up things on the internet, and it feels like a harmless next step to consult AI instead of using a search engine for our everyday needs—book recommendations, recipe ideas, etc. It is important to remember that AI just regurgitates what people 💁🏻♀️ have already put out there.
When we look for book reviews 📖 and recommendations online, we come across actual people's opinions. We have navigated the online world somewhat successfully so far by making connections with people whose values align with our own.
Humans thrive in connections. It is true that real-life, in-person connection is incomparable, but online communities and connections are valuable additions too. Apart from reading itself, there is the pleasure of talking about what we read with other people. Even passing or receiving a good recommendation is a sheer act of joy and human connection. There is no good reason to give that up in favor of AI.
Increasingly, search engines are incorporating a layer of AI, which can be convenient in certain situations. However, it is better to stay vigilant in our searches and not rely solely on the most popular results.
Mention the source when sharing/forwarding information
When AI companies harvest 🌾 artists' data and feed it to AI, anyone can generate images imitating the styles of famous 👩🏻🎨 without ever crediting or compensating those artists. We don't know the long-term effects yet.
Meanwhile, if you are sharing someone else's work online, please remember to credit the source or the person. At least it will be available somewhere for anyone who cares to look. This also connects to the previous idea of not using AI as a search engine. In other words, using a search engine still gives us a better chance to discover people's work and interact, share, and credit them properly.
Call a spade a spade
If you have used generative AI to create text or images and are sharing it, don't forget to mention it as AI-generated. And never ever use AI output in your work without reviewing it first.🕵🏽🔎
As the distinction between human-made and AI-generated work blurs by the day, it is important that we keep some sanity-saving practices in place.
Some things are worth keeping human
We are a society already tuned to gravitate towards insta-worthy pictures and Pinterest-perfect recipes. Eliminating or resisting AI's temptations is easier said than done. But still, I think some things are worth keeping human…
Not just making art 🎨 and music 🎼 but also enjoying the process is human. Don't rush to get results.
Not being perfect is human. Let's learn to accept mistakes and imperfections in our creations. 🫣
Taking time to do things is human. Embrace the slow. ⏳ Learn to cook, garden, sew, knit, crochet, and weave.
Humans are curious about what other humans do. Seek connections. 🤼
Have you thought of ways to use AI effectively without becoming overly dependent on it? Please share your ideas in the comments. 💗 I'm eager to hear from you.
To let me know you liked what you read, you can also press the little heart icon at the bottom of the newsletter. ♥️ However, if you are clicking it from your inbox, you might have to wait until Substack opens in a browser and make sure the heart icon is indeed red. Thanks! 🥰
CRAFTDOODLING DESIGNS UPDATES
I have been working away at the final touches for Nasha 2.0 and I am very excited to be sharing it with you all next week - Fri June 28. 🥰 The original 1-skein version of Nasha will be updated on the same day too.
Nasha 2.0 - Coming next week I am thrilled to be collaborating with Eva Vercauteren a.k.a @thebluerabbithouse for this release. She will have kits available for this pattern and she will also be releasing a beautiful new project bag design, that will also be included in the kit. If you are not already familiar with Eva’s beautiful art work and robust project bags, please take a moment to check her website. She has a variety of project bag sizes and usually has interesting add-ons available too! 🩷
📸 credit: @thebluerabbithouse a.k.a Eva Vercauteren A reel I had posted on IG this week, to show Nasha lace. 🙂
Fit check: the ankle socks I had knitted for my youngest. 👍🏽 After this, I started a couple other projects, but nothing to show yet. 🙂
A pair of ankle socks I had finished recently.
OTHER THINGS YOU MIGHT LIKE
Just finished Reading 📖
Black Coffee - Agatha Christie
Currently Reading 📖
Left Behind - Tim LaHaye & Jerry B. Jenkins
Until next time,
Kavitha. ♡
Currently, this newsletter is free to subscribe. If you like my work, please consider these other ways to support:
Click the ❤️ at the bottom of this post. If you are reading from your email inbox, this will open substack in web browser. Please allow it to open and make sure you see the red heart.
Share your thoughts in comments. I am here for the conversations. I hope you are too!
Introduce this newsletter to a friend!
Buy my patterns. I hope you find something you like.
I accept any of these with immense gratitude. Thank you!
It is important to have human connection than AI at least through crafting :) Just couple of days ago,a writer who had submitted an essay got a rejection mail saying that it was AI written. She says that she spent a lot of time researching and writing the piece and it got rejected as the client believed it was the work of AI. Scary times for freelance writers like me. :(
Great post! So important to keep the humanity in all this. So many here in SV forget the humanity of it all in the relentless pursuit of technological advances. Thank you for this call to take a step back!