Song of the Day: Focus Playlist – When the Stakes Are High

For the final project assignment, I want to go with the first option in crafting a microfiction. I have written a microfiction before for a flash fiction contest that happened in Kean not too long ago. It was not easy since I wrote way more than the word limit, so I had to chop a lot of my work, but it worked out in the end since I managed to win third place.

For this class’s microfiction, I want to write about humanity and it’s changing creativity (pre-ai and during ai) from the perspective of a vampire. My thinking; how would a creature that was once human look at humanity over the decades, and talk about the concept of what is humanity when the speaker (vampire) is essentially losing their own humanity?

I still feel hesitant to include ai in my writing. I think I will first write the whole thing then use a copy of the completed work for ai to scan it and see if they believe there is anything that can be improved/changed/fixed. I can then compare my original work versus the copy that was used with ai. I will also have to record down specific changes or events that took place with the ai, so I can include it into my reflection portion.

Song of the Night: The All-American Rejects – Dirty Little Secret

While I did not have the opportunity to read the articles, I was impressed with the presentations done during class by Adamari and Keslande.

Starting with Adamari, I always understood what plagiarism meant but nearly forgot how the meaning of plagiarism could change now that AI in involved. It is important to ask when does plagiarism come in if a writing contains AI. Does that depend how much AI was used, if the author states they used AI? It’s almost scary to think about, and a little sad to see. I find it sad that people are being less active in the art of writing. Bias aside, writing in general is so important, it should be the one thing left untouched by AI, if anything, all of the arts shouldn’t be touched by AI.

In Keslande’s presentation, it does put into perspective some of the positives AI can bring, as it is easy to get wrapped up in the negatives of it. I think the website shown was really cool. It strengthens the idea that everyone should have the opportunity to learn and have universal understanding, even if different languages.

Song of the Day: oDsbm – WODS91

I will admit, reading the article “AI-generated contradictions for environmental democracy” was so well-written that I didn’t understand much of the big words involved. I did understand parts of it and agree that AI has major impacts on the environment which in turn impacts society down to a safety level. While my blog is posted after Sarah’s presentation, Sarah’s presentation really helped me understand the topic and article better. It’s almost sad to see people forget how beautiful the world is, and I will admit I forget at times too. But preserving nature and the environment is more than just it’s sight. It’s protecting the cycle humans are a part of. Without a place for nature to grow, the plants will struggle which will decrease eating for certain species which causes a chain effect for the whole cycle of animals. Not to mention plants are the literal reason we breathe.

Song of the Day: Jordan Schor & Harley Bird – Home (NCS)

After reading the two articles on DND, I have a better understanding on the tabletop game and what surrounds it.

With the first article, “4 Reasons to Start Playing Dungeons and Dragons with Your Colleagues”, I thought it was a nice read. I have heard of DND before and am interested in it, however I do feel intimidated by how much there is involved. Reading the article did help when stating there is a role for everyone and it is meant to be an inclusive space. I can see how DND is more than just a game, it is a way for bonds to be formed and proper communication and imagination to be exercised.

In the second article, “Why AI Dungeon Is Not the AI Dungeon Master You’re Looking For” I have a couple of thoughts. While I am interested in DND, I have never really explored it so my knowledge on it is relatively low. However, I do wonder if incorporating AI in DND defeats the purpose of the creativity involved in DND. The article does make a mention of a video game that they really enjoyed and, from my understanding, wanted to combine DND and the video game together. So a question I do have is if it’s not allowed to create a DND tournament that takes place within the story or environment of an already existing franchise. As for the concept of an AI DND, the one small benefit I could see from it is being a good beginner for someone just starting to get into DND, maybe it could feel less intimidating compared to diving into a group that has years of experience.

Song of the Day: Pink Limb – Bubblegum Sky

Starting with the podcast “The Impact of AI on Children’s development”, it does bring many points to think about. First is how technically AI is everywhere, such as SIRI or Alexa. With that, the podcast does talk about how children interact with AI versus humans. An interesting part is the level of respect some show towards AI. While I still don’t like AI, I don’t think it’s okay to completely and directly disrespect AI, I say this with the stance like the podcast that those attitudes can translate over to human-on-human connections. At least for me personally, how a person acts towards anything non-human can judge how they act towards human. I don’t mean in the way of someone not liking AI and saying it, more in the vocabulary they use.

With the chapter, I have mixed feelings about. Starting with chapter 7, I am not sure if this is the perspective of a human writing or the AI. Either way, I have thoughts about the chapter. First is the mild hypocrisy. In the beginning of the chapter it talks about how connections among humans are going down, how even family dinner time is filled with phones and screens. And while I do acknowledge that, I want the author to remember that they too have delt with screens and technology a lot, considering how the book was made with a literal AI they built which requires more time with technology than an hour on the phone after dinner. It almost feels like it’s blaming us when AI, the literal thing in the book, is part of the problem.

Song of the Day: Maximum the Hormone [SHIMI feat. Atarashii Gakko]

After reading the articles, I wanted to focus on the article focuses on AI in education and the term AI literacy. While reading, I can agree with the importance on AI literacy. Regardless on a person’s stance on ai, I think it is important to understand what AI actually is and what it capable of, in both good and bad. With understanding, it will be easier to teach someone who might be less experienced with ai or not fully aware of the full spectrum of outcomes. The article brings up how the youth is already integrating ai into their lives, and just because they are does not mean it is too late to teach them.

Song of the Day: Adele – Set Fire to the Rain

Starting with the article about Nick Cave; first off, who? I write this respectfully, I have no clue who that is. I don’t think I have ever heard a song from them. Regardless of that, it is nice to see an artist standing up against ai and brings up a good point. Nick Cave mentions that music comes from suffering, and I agree. Yes, happy and bouncy songs are nice, but there is something about sad songs that makes someone want to stare out the window on a rainy day like they are a wife waiting for their husband to return from the war. There a plenty of good songs that tap into the emotions of pain and anger, AI won’t be able to repeat that if it can’t feel heartbreak.

Moving into the book reading, each word in chapter 3 made me hate the chapter more. I am open to thinking openly and expanding ideas, but the way the words tried to connect ai and a sever farm as “alive” didn’t sit well. For me, there is a difference between being alive and a life – which was one of the questions in the book: “What is a life, anyway?”. To answer, alive can be seen as medically and scientifically alive. But to live a life, it includes free will. Free will is what separates ai with everything else. No matter what, ai still needs a basic set of instructions and coding to follow through on what it is assigned to do. It can’t get a Dairy Queen ice cream at 3 A.M. AI can’t rewatch Interstellar for the 5th time. AI can’t belt a Hamilton song in the shower and pretend they’re on America’s Got Talent.

Song of the day: Serani Poji – a Kissaten at night

Reading the article “When AI learns an Author’s Voice, even experts prefer it” and the introduction to “Burnout from Humans”, it brings two sides of ai. One side is worrying how ai can takeover writing, the other is displaying how ai can work into writing. I admit, I am still hesitant about having ai in writing, although I think it’s important to understand that using it doesn’t always have to mean replacing it. Like with “Burnout from Humans”, it is using both human and ai writing, it is not claiming the ai words as their own- at least from what I understand. And no, I am not sure if I used this em dash correctly.