My AI manifesto

This is my personal manifesto for how I will and will not use generative AI. I believe it can be an extremely useful tool in certain situations, but can also have many negative repurcussions if used incorrectly.

1: Use to expand my abilities, not as a crutch.

A: Teach me new things

As a coding assistant, AI can quickly show me the correct syntax. It can suggest implementations, and teach me how to implement new functions. These are extremely useful, and help me to be exponentionally more productive as a hobby developer.

I must take care to use this as a tool to help me learn and grow. Instead of receiving the AI’s solution and calling it done, I need to understand what it has suggested and why, so that next time I will be better able to produce that answer on my own.

B: Do things I can’t do

If there is a trivial thing that I actually can’t do, and it is a progress blocker, I will use AI to fill in the gaps in my skill. Drawing a logo image for a silly pet project, creating a colorful, abstract background image, etc. It doesn’t make sense for me to learn how to do that for myself, so I feel comfortable delegating that to AI.

C: Don’t do things I can do

I do not use AI to write for me. I am able to write for myself, to express my thoughts through words in order to share my ideas with others. I believe that skills deteriorate without practice, and I am afraid of ever losing that ability. I will never delegate my writing, my thinking, and my shaping of ideas.

2: Treat as a tool for creators, not as a creator unto itself.

I work in a very creative, collaborative environment so this is very relevant professionally as well. It’s possible for me have an AI generate ideas, texts, and images, and by doing make me seem self-sufficient without collaborators. I will not do that.

A: Help those who create

There are many ways for creative professionals to use AI as a tool within their process. If an artist uses AI somehow to help in the creation of their own art, that feels fine. As above, my hope is that they will use it as a way to expand their capabilities, and not as a crutch.

B: Don’t try to be a creator

It feels wrong for a non-artist to generate images using AI and treat it as creative output. If I need visual artwork as part of a product, it will be created by a human creator. AI creations will not replace human creations.

AI can be used as a tool through the creative process, but will not be directly creating any part of the finished product. That is the responsibility of the creators, the people, and is too important to be delegated.

C: Help me to collaborate

While I will always value my ability to communicate through words, sometimes an image can be far more efficient. Finding common ground through concept art, such as by generating many sample images to collectively define what is needed, can be a fast way to reach a shared understanding.

The ease of producing many different formats for presenting an idea allows for experimentation in communication, which has possibilities that aren’t even fully explored yet.

Corollaries

1B + 2B: Do what I can’t do, while not replacing real creators

I will use AI to do things that I cannot do, but I will not treat the AI as a creator. Anything I create that directly uses something generated by AI will be presented as a proof-of-concept. I will not treat it as a finished product.

Anything that I present as a finished product will be ultimately created by people who can take responsibility as creators. Delegating that role to an AI is irresponsible.