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Comment by ada1981 | Hacker News Reader

ada1981

Why does the author use a computer and the Internet to write and distribute his thoughts?

Certainly it would be more rewarding to create paper from scratch and walk the earth handing his ideas to people? He could even create his own written language from scratch!

The way to get the most out of AI is not to simply automate away things you love; it’s to go bigger and try to solve bigger actual problems while using AI.

I teach an advanced university level course in how to write books with AI. It’s amazing to watch students (some traditional published authors) unlock new levels of flow and creativity.

It’s not the tool. You’re just using it wrong.

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> It’s not the tool. You’re just using it wrong.

Famous techno-optimist trope.

What if the ”tool” is marketed as something that can replace not just labor, but taste, decision making, and craft? Another recent tech development: Whose fault is it that social media is full of engagement bait and influencer social posturing? Is social media a tool? Are the recommendation systems, which promote thin perfect bodies to teenagers with low self esteem, just a tool? After all, they just ”help” you find content you’re likely to engage with.

Note I both agree and disagree with you here. I use AI too but I am very cautious to not let it ”take over”. It’s even hard to define what that means exactly. And that’s for someone who grew up without it. Imagine school today, with all the pressures of being a teenager from peers and teachers, and having access to free AI from companies who plan to rent it back to you later once they turn the value extraction knob.

> I use AI too but I am very cautious to not let it ”take over”

I think this is the key. Who’s driving?

If you are deliberate about what you want to own, focus on, and create yourself, you can consciously decide how AI help you bootstrap, scaffold, and critique your work to help you go farther.

If you aren’t, and you just tell AI to do it for you, you’re just ordering that Biryani. And heck, maybe that can be OK too. Sometimes you just need a meal you aren’t wanting to work at.

If someone markets a hammer as a spaceship, that’s bad marketing. Not a bad tool.

Social media can be a tool.

The recommendation systems are not tools to help you as much as they are a tool to increase shareholder value - occasionally those goals align, often they diverge.

> It’s not the tool. You’re just using it wrong

No.

Some people get great results with AI, others don’t.

But it doesn’t follow that for those for whom it doesn’t work “they’re using it wrong”. Maybe it’s the wrong tool for the job, while it’s the right tool for another job (like the one you described).

Stop pretending AI is universally useful for every use case and it must be the user’s fault if it doesn’t actually help.

The wrong tool for the job is a classic case of “using it wrong”.

> I teach an advanced university level course in how to write books with AI.

Ah yes, a slop teacher. Teacher of how to make slop. Can I buy your online course on how to make money from my slop?

Re: “slop”, can’t help you there. But if you’d like to join 6 figure advanced / published authors who have come to me for 1:1 coaching and support in how to integrate AI tools into their workflows, sure you are welcome to apply.

eyeroll Sounds like every other AI grifter. I learned a long time ago the easiest way to make money on the internet is to sell guides about how to make money on the internet.

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