The Memo: AI-Free Zone
I’m still bugged about the topic I wrote about last week, polyphenols in fruit. It’s not that I don’t think it was an interesting topic. It was. Why did it show up in press release now when it was published in 2023? My sense is that AI was involved, based on what I’ve read and what I’ve researched in the past. I’m going to change the way I select topics to write about.
But that’s not the real reason I’m writing this. It is to let you know that everything that’s posted on my website was written by me. I do use a specific AI to search for background research on topics (one expert said to think of AI as an eager research assistant, and that’s how I use it). I read research papers that AI finds, and I know the field well enough to know a good source from one that’s bad. Once I read enough research, I write about the topic. Then my editor of 36 years verifies what I’ve written makes sense or recommends changes that makes it clear what I intended to write. Then it goes to you.
It’s not that AI doesn’t offer to write something, but it doesn’t have a database of life experiences in addition to my knowledge base. It cannot think, has never run a marathon, got a knee replaced, or dealt with any of the human conditions we face. If you read what it writes, it sounds hollow because when AI writes, it’s not choosing the best word—it’s giving you the most common word to occur in that particular phrase.
One area is not free from AI: the illustrations. Paula says it’s almost impossible to find art that hasn’t been touched by AI. It’s not just the image of a hippo in a track suit eating ice cream; it’s almost every image, no matter how ordinary, but we work hard to make sure the images aren’t misleading and try to exclude anything made with generative AI.
Just know that the Memo and everything I write or say originated with me. This is an AI-free zone and is going to stay that way.
What are you prepared to do today?
