I’ve been moving and shipping fast. That’s product lingo saying I’ve been making lots of changes really fast to Inkwell, trying to improve the site based on user feedback. For the first two weeks of being live, I got so much feedback that it really helped shape this into a polished product. But I also realize I am moving too quickly. If you haven’t realized, I use AI to assist with development. Bear with me, there is a reason I bring this up. I liked programming before I realized careers were built around it. The inspiration for Inkwell was to bring back the vibe of learning to code and tweaking your site by seeing what your friends were doing and learning how to implement it on your site. I was as savvy as any 14/15 year old at the time. Then my priorities shifted.
In high school I got involved in theatre and studio art and stopped spending as much time online. Then I graduated and had to start adulting. I was taught I had to go to college in order to be successful. I first studied art, then theatre, then stopped and dropped out because I realized the competition and chance of success were not worth losing the love of art. I started working and found that I’m technically savvy, and some would say ‘smart’. I’ve moved quickly in my career and made moves intentionally to get where I’m at today, and I’m proud of it. But I’ve always wanted to be a ‘builder.’ I wanted to create things that were bigger than me. In the age before AI (wow we can say that now), when I looked into it, I needed developers, I needed money. Things I did not have. But AI has changed that. Now, my work experience combined with leaning into AI when it first came out (in 2018 I had a mentor tell me AI/ML was the future so I jumped into testing ChatGPT when it first launched). The last three years working in a product/business setting, learning AI and how to ship products, have naturally made it easy for me to adopt new tools. The latest sensation is Claude Code. No longer do you have to work with a chat to find the error in your code and have conversations turn to slop because of token limitations. It went viral for a reason, it changed what people could do and I’m firsthand proof. Now, I’m wondering if I made the right moves. Would I do it all the same? The Reddit community was amazing and very helpful. But I also got sloppy. Instead of writing posts myself, I let AI do it for me because it could do it so much faster. On Reddit, the community was forgiving and actually helped. But I learned what happens yesterday when you are naive and do this in an opinionated federated instance. I always knew there were a lot of people who didn’t like AI. Heck, my friends are some of them. And I have concerns regarding it as well, but I try to approach it by learning and embracing it ethically and openly. I posted yesterday outside of Reddit to get more early feedback, specifically looking for people who want to host their own instance of the Inkwell code. I’ve learned that’s big in the fediverse and I want to participate in any way I can because I’ve found it welcoming and refreshing.
Until last night that is. I made a post and let AI do its thing not really thinking about it because it was late and I was multitasking. Actually, I was playing Pokopia xD. So when I noticed comments on my post, I went in to review, and all I will say is they were different from Reddit. I’m not going to talk badly about others, as I truly understand where others were coming from and how my mistakes made the wrong impression. But I did learn that there is a real concern about AI slop amongst the fediverse and likely outside it as well. I don’t want to be one of those platforms. I’ve been the vision and driver for Inkwell; Claude Code unlocked the development potential. So if you saw me moving fast and wondered why, now you know. I haven’t been trying to hide it but should have been more straightforward before the backlash. However, I will always learn from my mistakes and be better for it. Inkwell is open source, and I want to find developers who know more than me, who are willing to work together and ensure the safety of AI generated code. I’m not an expert coder and maybe I could have been if I stayed with it instead of the path I took. Yet, everything happens for a reason and I feel I’m on good path.
I also want to collaborate with artist to create stamps, custom avatars, etc. I don’t have time to do all of this and feel strongly against AI replacing human generated content (i.e. thought, art, writing, photography, etc). That’s the AI slop I worry about. I created Inkwell so I could write my thoughts and share if people were interested. In the past, I would have used AI to polish this post, but the entire point of Inkwell for me was to write. Mistakes and all.
#Inkwell #Writing #AI
Marginalia2
In my opinion, I have no problem with AI if it is used as an assistant, to help with work, or to help with learning. However, that doesn't mean I agree with people who are overly dependent on AI. If someone creates a project and most of it’s done by AI, or if someone answers an assignment by copy-pasting AI answers without making any effort, then that's what I disagree with. This also includes people who steal other people's artwork and give it to AI, and use the images generated by prompts and stolen artwork as a source of income and profit.
AI is meant to simplify work, not to replace human-made creations. One AI I find particularly useful is the AI translator I use to communicate in English. My English is still a bit messy, so I use AI to help me communicate. Sometimes I don't use AI if I feel that what I'm saying is easy for English speakers to understand. In the end, a solid ethical compass within each person will help them do things for people and for humanity. And with that compass, they will empower people and give them a better life.
@ra_alandunisi beautifully said! I’m all for using AI for productivity, but I agree, you cannot replace AI with human thought and ingenuity. It’s just a tool to help, just like Excel and Word. Companies that are trying to augment their staff with AI are failing because it cannot replace human thinking. It can be very accurate but it can be very confidently wrong as well. I used to play around with AI art before I realized its impact and how it made artists feel. Now I rarely use any AI art tool, and if I do, I never publish anything or claim it as my own. I’ve seen Gemini can even make decent music now, and it’s terrifying. The arts, music, and general human connection are not things that AI should replace.