Like many, many, many people, I’ve been experimenting with tools powered by large language models (LLMs), the same kind of technology behind Claude and ChatGPT.
These models are often described as “AI.” I can’t quite accept that they’re intelligent; they don’t understand anything, but in the right hands, they can do some pretty remarkable things.
But here’s my uncomfortable truth, aside from the massive amount of power required to build these models, they also rely on huge amounts of content created by real people. Writers, artists, musicians, designers… and everyday people like you and me. Much (almost all) of that content was scraped from the internet without permission, credit, or payment. And yes, that means the massive organisations behind the major LLMs are profiting, or going to profit, massively from stolen content. And that raises serious ethical questions for me.
I have no doubt these tools are helpful. Today, they certainly boost my productivity, spark ideas, and make experimentation easier. In the hands of a skilled person, they act a bit like a superpower, helping people to move faster, explore further, and get more done. Ever ridden an electric bike? It’s like that … they get you where you’re going faster, easier.
But to be clear, the best results I’ve seen don’t come from AI alone, they come from AI plus talented people.
- A writer refining a messy first draft of an email or a document.
- A designer mocking up variations or ideating.
- A musician trying out a string line.
These tools amplify our ability to create. But they’re no substitute for the human intent behind the work.
Right now, AI outputs aren’t even close to usable without a talented human. However, with patience, back-and-forth, and lots of refinement, the outputs can be really quite amazing. Even better, create something yourself, then give it to an AI. It’ll highlight strengths and weaknesses, offer a critique, suggest edits… often with surprising relevance.
So what do we do next?
These tools are here. They’re powerful. And everyone’s life is going to be affected whether we bury our heads in the sand or choose to stay curious and lean in.
I’m choosing curiosity. And I’m going to try to do better.
That means:
- Using these tools to do more, with less harm (planet and creators)
- Actively protecting the career paths that help people grow… from interns to leads
- Choosing tools trained on ethically sourced content and built with transparency in mind
We can do all of this today, but we have to be intentional.
We have to figure it out as we go.
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