Stroll away or dance | Seth’s Weblog

AI and LLMs pose a very visceral menace to the typing class. Writers, editors, poets, freelancers, advertising copywriters and others are voicing cheap (and unreasonable) objections to the tempo and affect of instruments like Claude, Kimi and ChatGPT.

I feel we’ve two selections, notably poignant on US Labor Day…

The primary is to stroll away from the instruments. You’re most likely not going to steer your rivals and your purchasers to have as a lot animosity for AI automation as you do, and time spent ranting about it’s time wasted. However, you’ll be able to stroll away. There’s a protracted historical past of artistic professionals refusing to make use of the expertise of the second and thriving.

In the event you’re going to stroll away, the trail is obvious. Your work has to develop into extra unpredictable, extra human and extra nuanced. It has to price extra and be value extra. It seems that the tempo of your manufacturing isn’t as vital as its affect. Writing a hand-built Linkedin submit that will get 200 feedback isn’t a productive path in a world the place anybody can try this. If we’re going to place ourselves on the hook, we have to actually be on the hook.

Keep in mind the mall photographers who took barely higher than mediocre photographs of youngsters at Sears? They’re gone now, as a result of we will take barely higher than mediocre photographs at dwelling.

The opposite possibility is to bop. Outsource all related duties to an AI to place your self on the hook for judgment, style and decision-making as an alternative. Give your self a promotion, changing into the arbiter and the writer, not the ink-stained wretch. Dramatically enhance your tempo and your output, and create work that scares you.

This requires re-investing the time you used to spend on duties. Deal with mastering the instruments, bringing extra perception to their use than others. Refuse to publish mediocre work.

It’s tempting to worry AI slop, as a result of it’s right here and it’s going to worsen. However there’s human slop everywhere in the web, and it’s getting worse as effectively.

Whether or not you dance or stroll away, the purpose is identical: create actual worth for the individuals who want it. Do work that issues for individuals who care.

If we’re going to make a distinction, we’ll must deliver labor to the work. The emotional labor of judgment, perception and threat.

September 1, 2025