Member-only story
How I (Cautiously) Use AI
The AI craze is overblown, but when it comes to alt-text and summaries, it’s surprisingly handy.
As much as I’d love this post to be 2 words: “I don’t” the reality is even I, a staunch advocate for NOT using AI sees its value in a highly-limited fashion. Let’s get something out of the way right now: AI is terrible, a parlor trick, a Bullshit Machine, and something that is becoming a crutch for many. It is polluting the Internet built on a foundation of stolen knowledge.
AI is not the savior C-level executives, venture capitalists, or tech bros try to sell it as. If someone is telling you AI is “going to solve all your problems” they are a charlatan. Full stop. Don’t fall for it.
Since learning about ChatGPT in its early days a few years ago, I’ve come to see it as useful for literally three things.
Alt-Text
AI is fantastic at describing images, which is fantastic for generating alt-text. For the unfamiliar, alt-text is a text description of an image that accompanies the photo so people who can’t see are able to know what the image is. Yes, I can describe an image myself. Let’s see though how offloading alt-text makes things better for everyone.
