Samir Shukla
By Samir Shukla
Copilot. It’s a nice, compact word. It denotes someone who can take over when the pilot is unable or incapacitated, but the word can also mean a partner, helper, a fellow navigator. I’ve met couples who use the word to describe their partners and relationship. Buddies tag each other as copilots on a road trip.
Most people hit a bump in their lives where they seek out or wish for a copilot, a friend or family member, to help them ease through whatever it is. This basic human goodness is pre-installed in most people and emerges for giving help during moments of need.
I use MS Word as my writing tool and have used it for years. Of late Microsoft has installed their AI doodad called Copilot into it. It appeared out of nowhere one day. I didn’t ask for it. The idea of course is to offer an “intelligent” assistant in composing, editing, designing, what have you. It’s part of the warp drive speeds with which pretty much all companies are diving into Artificial Intelligence. They have to offer something lest they get left behind, or worse, lose market share. I can imagine somehow toilet paper will soon come with AI. Hey, come to think of it, that might not be a bad idea.
I understand this concept of a digital copilot. It could be useful for drudgery or routine work. If you are looking to compose a routine presentation for work, it can be helpful in speeding things up. But when the task is to write or create something original, using my own thoughts, writing experience, with the travails and travels of a life lived so far, this assistant can become a nuisance, an instigator of slop disguised as “convenience” and douser of original thought.
School kids and college students use these “helpers” and tools to write their papers. But are they also talking to people, digging up facts through multiple sources, seeking knowledge via repeatable experimentation?
A degradation of inventive and original thought lurks in these tools and may erode the critical thinking capacity of incoming generations.
Copilot installed in my writing tool was, for me, more like an intruder, someone watching over me.
An overly enthusiastic helper wanting to make suggestions, write for me, think for me. An intrusive eyeball, getting in the way of my personal creativity. So, naturally, I disabled it. My writing slate is now again cleaner, relying on my own wits, words and composing capabilities, typos, grammatical errors, clunky sentences, all of it. Things I can go back over, review and rewrite. There’s always a need to reread and rewrite, which is something I rather enjoy, by adding this, deleting that, improving structure and flow, and getting it ready for presentation for anyone interested in reading.
I have said this before and I’ll say it again; AI is a technological advancement that for the first time in human history is designed to reduce the need for humans. That’s ok, up to a point. We have invented new technology and plenty of devices to make our lives easier, less laborious. That’s a good thing. The dilemma here is that this full-on diving into AI will create large segments of unemployed and underemployed people. Less thinking, less inquisitive, dare I say, less balanced humans. Before we reach some type of utopian balance of humans and technology, there will be massive dissonance, dissolution and disillusion.
This is the current dilemma we must analyze and work out together before divisiveness and distrust increase. A field guide is needed for the average person to know what is real or true and what is artificially created for the purpose of manipulation.
There is already plenty of automated content slop tossed to us in our information consumption.
So why does a Trekkie like me, someone who loves the technological world of Star Trek, now want a simpler, less tech world? I guess I’m underwhelmed, so far, by this scattershot AI popping up everywhere while slowly becoming overwhelmed with the barrage of automated digital content.
These are murky waters. Can communities or societies emerge from this that are better aware, engaged and informed? Without the insertion of leaders, teachers, and mentors of strong ethical grounding keeping the alleys of technology swept and clean, I have my doubts.
Maybe I’d like to slow technology at this juncture, at least for myself, while we are seesawing on this new world where AI is wobbly and still under our control. The tidal waves of exponential change can be seen on the horizon, rapidly approaching. Are companies creating technology that will cannibalize itself?
Common sense, human creativity, hands-on efforts, original writing, music, painting, filmmaking are all under threat. Give me paper and pen and I’ll get to work. Will I accept AI to a certain, minimal extent? Sure, I’m game for a bit more convenience. In the meantime, I’ll stick with human copilots, thank you very much.
Samir Shukla is the Editor of Saathee Magazine
Contact: samir@saathee.com
X: @ShuklaWrites
Newsletter: ShuklaWrites.Substack.com
