If you want to capture your legacy, then you’re probably wondering how AI may play a role in that.
Mind you, I’ll probably have an evolved perspective on AI as time goes on. But I’ve been having people chew my ears on either side for the past year, so I’m about ready to have an official stance.
AI is a part of our lives now, whether we like it or not. And I’ve had some formative realizations before the popularization of AI that influence the upsides I see in it.
- Change isn’t always bad. During the Industrial Era, machines took over various means of production, displacing workers in traditional roles like hand spinners, weavers, and agricultural laborers. However, this also created new jobs in factories, requiring skills in mechanics and operation. So, growing pains are inevitable. I can have empathy for displaced workers while also seeing how the long-term benefit may justify the short-term pain. Currently, as a writer, AI is the elephant in the room everywhere I go. There’s a question around the relevance of my skills, and some of my job opportunities have been lost. That’s partly why it’s so important for me to focus on heartfelt communication. Because AI may sometimes compellingly mimic humanity, but it will never be able to be a companion in the human experience. So, I’m begging writers to dig into things that we’ve been afraid of – the corny, the sincere, and the mushy gushy. This is coming from someone who’s chronically sarcastic and deadpan, but nothing is more important to me than human connection as we all strive to wrap our tiny brains around the mystery of life.
- Time is precious. If we can do something reasonably well but faster, then by all means. Generate 100 LinkedIn captions in 30 seconds. We should be primarily compensating workers for the value they add to our lives rather than the time they spend adding that value to our lives (saving us the burden of spending our own time is ultimately the factor). This is especially fair when considering that experts will effectively spend their lifetime building their expertise, and as that expertise grows, they’ll actually be able to do better work at a faster rate. We shouldn’t punish people for their ease of skill, and we should incentivize people to remain active in the roles that best use their skills. People should be encouraged to be efficient in fulfilling their obligations to society so that they have more time for their personal lives. Win-win.
- The world will move on without us. That doesn’t mean that we should assimilate to whatever is popular, but sometimes, we have to make personal sacrifices to accommodate the masses. Sometimes, we do everyone else a favor when we go with the flow.
- Smart people use tools. The concept of “intelligence” shouldn’t be limited to the ability to recall facts off the top of your head (unless you’re an ER surgeon). So many amazing people have added to the global bank of knowledge to better our lives, so we should be able to draw from that global bank. And AI really is better than Google (with better comprehension of questions and better assembly of various relevant sources to give direct, nuanced answers). AI is good for some brain-dead tasks that take away from time I can better spend elsewhere.
- People aren’t always helpful and available. Sometimes, in emotional moments, it’s hard to find the right words, and it’s hard to find someone to talk to. AI can be a useful prompt to brainstorm feelings and solutions.
- Capturing the awe of life is a difficult feat. It’s a worthwhile pursuit that merits the use of our best resources, and satisfaction can feel further out of reach than ever as everyone’s constantly evolving around us.
Here’s the flipside to those points…
- AI is over-hyped. We have recency bias. Many of us grew up with the internet, for example, so it’s considered normal. But that doesn’t mean that it should become a standard of living nor does that mean that it’s mostly good for us. AI will continue to become integrated into our daily lives, but when it comes to legacy work, AI cannot be the standard. I’ve seen AI give flat-out incorrect information. I’ve seen it claim that I’m ultimately still responsible for verifying all the information that it gives me. AI only knows what you tell it, so you have to be an expert at using AI to even get a good product from it. Don’t get me wrong, AI can genuinely improve some creative works. I don’t think it’s all bad nor is it always obvious when someone’s used AI. I’ve seen people falsely accuse human-made content of being AI (meaning it’s causing greater distrust and division). I’ve gotten good creative advice from AI myself, but the non-stop chatter and vehement defense of AI has gotten tiring. I’ve spoken to people who are clearly brilliant and unique and exciting, but they’re getting caught up in the hustle, and they’re phoning it in during the production phase. It’s like that bit of disappointment when you get a warm email only to realize that it wasn’t specifically written with you in mind.
- Quality over quantity. In my utopian vision, humanity will have streamlined so many services that we can have more quality time. Instead, it seems like the perceived value of our work is going down, and we’ll just have to accomplish more tasks within the same amount of time. But with legacy work, it should be done with time and care, because legacy, in large part, is a reflection on how we’ve spent our time. Having a ghostwriter is a way of saving you time without sacrificing quality, because I actually enjoy this work. Articulating your legacy is an enormous responsibility that I want to do justice by.
- For the world to keep growing, we need a certain level of originality. Right now, AI is drawing from all of human creation. As human creation is increasingly getting displaced by AI, we will eventually be consuming content that is an interpretation of an interpretation of an interpretation. We will essentially be diluting the human experience and increasingly dumbing down the content we consume (rewatching “Idiocracy” was haunting). In the context of legacy, you have a unique story that isn’t out there to be drawn upon. A shallow mimicry of someone else’s life experience won’t capture you. Contributing your unique testimony of the human experience will be a great service to yourself, your loved ones, and all of humanity.
- If we overly rely on AI, we will become stupider. If we lazily lean on external points of reference rather than searching for information within ourselves, then we will not be exercising our brains. One such importance of the ability for recall is in the precious memories we’ve made with loved ones. As we age, we become family historians. We are a window into our predecessors’ ancestry, thereby helping others with their own sense of identity while keeping ourselves in good cognitive health.
- Human beings need human connection. Practicing communication and brainstorming talking points with AI can help people prepare for human connection, but by substituting it, we are making ourselves even more lonely and socially illiterate. Human beings can be unpredictable, self-centered, complex, and confrontational. But we’ve always needed each other – down to the process of creating life itself. Conversely, we’ve never needed AI. And AI only communicates with people with the intention of being pleasant, relevant, simple, and helpful. That’s not enough. Meanwhile, people are increasingly unwilling to do the hard work of maintaining human relationships. Legacy is, indeed, hard work. But an expert ghostwriter can better comprehend your story. An expert ghostwriter can guide you with ease, as the answer ultimately has to come from within you. Legacy is an emotional process that requires the complexity and care of a human touch. And part of sharing your legacy is in having a witness to your life – a real human listener.
- AI is extremely exhaustive to the environment. We have to balance human potential with overall goodwill, including stewardship of the Earth. While people may not be willing to completely throw away AI, they can be more mindful of their use of it. I hope that AI is an exciting new toy that we’ll grow bored of.
Generally, AI should have a seat at the table, but people seem to be clamoring to rely on it beyond what’s actually valuable.
When working with me, I’ll minimally use AI in ways that add to the value of our work – as a scout for puzzle pieces to assemble the first draft of our work, using conversation transcriptions, meeting summaries, source citations, etc. AI is also a decent peer to help me polish our final draft. Of course, as a ghostwriter, I am a guide to help a client ultimately take ownership of the work. So, the work already isn’t entirely my own.
In the pursuit of capturing someone’s legacy, AI is one of many tiny tools. But it should never be a crutch. To give it even 20% of the credit would be extremely generous. Your life is unique and special; a computer couldn’t possibly articulate it. Your life is defined by your own perception and the impact you’ve had on other people; AI cannot substitute your humanity.
