The Pros and Cons of Using AI for Writing, Art, or Business

Writing, Creating Illustrations, and Using AI in Business

I’ve been working with AI to create art for nearly 2 years, creating over 600 images for AI videos, catalogs, and a few exhibitions in art shows. I’ve also been working with AI as a writer of books, screenplays, and song-lyrics, mainly to get some initial copy which I have edited.

After I gave a recent presentation on AI and showed some of my videos, that led to a discussion about the problems with AI. While I became an AI defender, describing the help I gained from it, I also acknowledged many of its problems, such as taking jobs from writers, artists, and others, spreading misinformation, making errors, helping criminals scam victims, using the work of artists and writers without compensation, and more. People in the group then asked what I saw as the future for AI. I ended the presentation with a song: “I’m a Country Man in a Digital Age,” now on Changemakers Music on YouTube, which expressed the sentiments of many at the presentation: “It would be great to go back to those days before AI, the social media, and Zoom, when people had more personal connections with each other and could meet and talk face to face.” Yet people liked many of the advantages of our digital age, such as meeting on Zoom, where people expressed their frustrations with AI and online communication.

Given that backdrop, I wanted to share my thoughts on the advantages and disadvantages of using AI both personally and in business, and the likely future for AI. And naturally, as an AI user, I asked AI.

Here’s what I asked, and what AI said.
“For an article, I’d like to write about the pros and dangers of AI. Can you write 5–10 advantages of using AI, such as for creating illustrations and writing, more efficiency in business, more information, and about the dangers, such as writers, artists and others losing jobs, misinformation, errors in reports of numbers and costs, inability to copyright AI, plagiarism, uncertainty about who someone is, use of AI by criminals, and other problems. Can you write 5–10 disadvantages of AI. Can you indicate what is being done to resolve problems, and on balance what do you think is the future of AI.

Here’s what ChatGPT said.

The Advantages of AI

1. Increased Efficiency in Business Operations: AI technologies can automate repetitive tasks, analyze large datasets, and streamline workflows, enabling businesses to achieve greater productivity at lower costs. For instance, customer service chatbots can handle common inquiries, freeing up human employees for more complex tasks.
2. Enhanced Creativity in Art and Writing: AI-powered tools can assist artists and writers by generating ideas, producing illustrations, or even drafting articles. These tools, such as DALL·E for illustrations and GPT models for writing, can speed up the creative process and help creators explore new styles or concepts.
3. Data-Driven Decision Making: AI systems can analyze vast amounts of information in real-time, allowing organizations to make more informed and accurate decisions. In fields like healthcare, finance, and marketing, AI can identify trends, predict outcomes, and recommend actions with higher precision than humans alone.
4. Personalization in Products and Services: AI algorithms can customize user experiences by analyzing their behavior and preferences. This is particularly useful in e-commerce, where AI can recommend products tailored to an individual’s taste, or in media platforms that suggest personalized content.
5. Medical Advancements: AI is revolutionizing healthcare by aiding in early disease detection, creating personalized treatment plans, and even assisting in surgeries through robotics. AI-driven diagnostic tools can analyze medical data faster than human doctors, leading to quicker interventions.
6. Improved Accessibility: AI technologies can help bridge accessibility gaps. For example, AI-powered speech-to-text and text-to-speech software helps individuals with disabilities communicate more effectively. AI translation tools also allow people to break down language barriers more easily.
7. Reduction of Human Error: AI systems, when properly trained, can significantly reduce errors in tasks such as data analysis, financial forecasting, and quality control in manufacturing. By minimizing the risk of mistakes, AI improves overall accuracy and efficiency.
8. Increased Availability of Information: AI can process vast amounts of data from across the internet and provide concise summaries. This allows users to access more information in less time, leading to better research and learning opportunities.
9. Optimized Resource Use: AI helps industries, from agriculture to energy, optimize resource use. For instance, AI algorithms in agriculture can monitor crop health and recommend precise water and fertilizer usage, resulting in sustainable farming practices.
10. Fostering Innovation: By automating mundane tasks, AI frees up time for human workers to focus on higher-level problem-solving and innovation. AI itself is often used to discover new materials, solve complex problems, and drive scientific research.

The Disadvantages of AI

1. Job Displacement: One of the most significant concerns around AI is the potential for job loss, especially in industries reliant on repetitive or creative tasks. Writers, artists, and even professionals in finance or law may face reduced demand as AI becomes more adept at performing tasks traditionally done by humans.
2. Misinformation and Deepfakes: AI-generated content can be used maliciously to create convincing fake news, images, or videos, contributing to misinformation. This can erode trust in media and institutions and cause confusion about the authenticity of information.
3. Lack of Accountability: AI systems, while programmed by humans, often operate as black boxes, making it difficult to trace back decisions to a responsible party. This lack of transparency can lead to errors in fields like healthcare or finance, where wrong decisions have significant consequences.
4. Data Privacy Concerns: AI systems, particularly those used in surveillance and data collection, raise concerns about individual privacy. The vast amount of personal data collected by AI algorithms can be misused, leading to potential breaches of privacy and security.
5. Intellectual Property Issues: AI-generated content cannot be copyrighted in many jurisdictions, leading to legal uncertainties around ownership. This poses problems for creators who rely on copyright protections and raises concerns about the originality of AI-generated art, writing, and designs.
6. Plagiarism and Ethical Concerns: AI tools can unintentionally plagiarize existing works, particularly in creative fields like writing and art. Since these tools are trained on existing data, they may replicate elements from other works, leading to questions of originality and ethics.
7. Errors in Data and Reports: AI systems are only as good as the data they are trained on. If the input data is flawed or biased, the output will be equally problematic. This is especially dangerous when AI is used in making crucial decisions in fields like healthcare, where incorrect data could lead to harmful consequences.
8. Criminal Use of AI: AI can be exploited by criminals for identity theft, fraud, and creating sophisticated malware. For example, AI-powered deepfake technology can be used to impersonate individuals, leading to potentially dangerous scenarios in fraud or political manipulation.
9. Loss of Human Interaction: As AI takes over more roles, especially in customer service and healthcare, there is a risk of reducing the quality of human interaction. Automated systems may not be able to provide the empathy or understanding that human professionals can.
10. Technological Dependency: Over-reliance on AI can create vulnerabilities, especially if systems malfunction or are attacked. This could lead to operational disruptions in critical industries such as healthcare, finance, and national security.

Addressing the Dangers of AI

Efforts to mitigate the risks of AI are ongoing:

1. Regulation and Oversight: Governments and international bodies are working on regulations to ensure AI is developed and deployed responsibly. This includes ethical guidelines, data protection laws, and restrictions on harmful uses such as deepfakes or autonomous weapons.
2. Ethical AI Development: Tech companies are investing in developing AI systems that are transparent, accountable, and fair. This includes efforts to reduce bias in AI algorithms and increase their interpretability, ensuring decisions made by AI are understandable and justifiable.
3. Reskilling and Workforce Transition: Governments and industries are focusing on reskilling workers who may be displaced by AI. Training programs and educational initiatives are being introduced to help workers transition to new roles that require human creativity, problem-solving, and emotional intelligence.
4. Improved AI Security: Research in cybersecurity is advancing to protect AI systems from being hacked or misused by malicious actors. Additionally, systems are being designed with robust safeguards against exploitation, such as encryption and access controls.
5. Transparency in AI: Researchers are pushing for the development of AI systems that can explain their decisions in understandable terms. This is critical in high-stakes applications like medicine or law enforcement, where transparency is essential for accountability.

The Future of AI

On balance, AI is poised to become a foundational technology across various industries. Its potential for innovation, efficiency, and problem-solving is immense. However, ensuring that AI is used ethically, safely, and responsibly will be crucial in determining whether its benefits outweigh the risks. As society adapts to AI, ongoing efforts in regulation, transparency, and education will be vital to addressing its challenges. The future of AI is likely one where humans and machines collaborate, each amplifying the other’s strengths, provided that the ethical challenges and societal impacts are carefully managed.

Weighing the Pros and Cons of AI

After getting all these responses from AI, it certainly made my task of writing this article much easier. Instead of spending two to three hours researching and writing the copy, it took me about 30 minutes to ask AI my questions and get answers, review what AI wrote, and write the beginning and conclusiona.

In general, I thought AI provided a reasonable response, though some of these areas of concern might be more fully developed, perhaps in additional articles about the activities of the tech leaders and the government to develop practices and policies for regulating and controlling AI. I have found it helpful for illustrations and writing, as another tool for writing books, scripts, articles, PR releases, and other copy, though I still have to edit and polish what AI writes. Also, while I have never been an artist, AI has enabled me to create illustrations for books and other written materials, as well as show off my art in competitions and art exhibits. I even have created and produced a film on the development of AI, AI Evolution, and written a book about many AI-related crimes in Scams in the Digital Age, published by American Leadership Books and soon to become a film. So I have to thank AI for that, while I am aware that many writer and artist friends are struggling because their clients and work assignments have declined. Yet, they might use AI themselves to find new ways to contribute or train for new occupations.

I compare what is happening today to what happened when the automobile was invented and began to take over the roads in the early 20th century. Riding horses for transportation or traveling by horse carriages became increasingly a thing of the past, as horses and carriages were forced off the main roads and confined to special places like Central Park in New York. As more and more cars hit the roads, a whole army of people involved in supporting transportation by horses were put out of business, such as carriage makers, blacksmiths, carriage drivers, and the owners of stables for caring for these horses. Though a small number of these individuals and businesses survived, cars had taken over, and people had to adapt to that new reality, much as is happening today with electric vehicles and solar panels for homes, leading to new opportunities in new fields.That’s what I think is happening with AI, as technology leaders, government officials, and interest groups debate, argue, and make decisions about what kind of rules, regulations, safety protocols, and ethical and legal guidelines need to be put in place to guide the development of the AI industry.

For more information and to schedule interviews, email or call:

Karen Andrews

Executive Assistant

Changemakers Publishing and Writing

San Ramon, CA 94583

(925) 804–6333

Changemakerspub@att.net

www.changemakerspublishingandwriting.com

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Gini Graham Scott, Ph.D. is the author of over 50 books with major publishers and has published 200 books through her company Changemakers Publishing and Writing (http://www.changemakerspublishingandwriting.com). She writes books, proposals, and film scripts for clients, and has written and produced 18 feature films and documentaries, including Conned: A True Story and Con Artists Unveiled¸ distributed by Gravitas Ventures. (http://www.changemakersproductionsfilms.com). Her latest books include Ghost Story and How to Find and Work with a Good Ghostwriter published by Waterside Productions; The Big Con, I Was Scammed, Scams in the Digital Age, and Love and Sex in Prison, published by American Leadership Press; and Ask the AI Wizard, published by J. Michael Publishing.