I try to avoid AI whenever and however I can.  Being an Apple user, I’ve stopped asking Siri for anything.  Our television isn’t smart.  Our stereo consists of components that don’t secretly conspire with one another.  They use physical cables and have no bluetooth or other software in them.  But with constant “upgrades” on computers, which we have to have because AI is so good at hacking, my daily life has been invaded by Al.  This came clear to me the other day as I was finishing up a short story I’d been working on.  The creative process take time.  I’d started this one months ago.  I get lots of ideas and I start many stories that get dropped when another hook comes along.  Then I’ll remember what drew me to an older idea and go back to finish the neglected piece.

It takes courage to submit stories for publication.  I get a lot of rejections, as most writers do.  That means I go for periods without trying.  Besides, all the journals say you should regularly read them to get an idea of what the editors like.  If you work 9-2-5 and have your own blog, and you like to read full books, this can be difficult.  You can, of course, just shoot into the dark.  But I digress.  I finished a story recently and copied it from my writing software into Pages.  Since I use a Mac, Microsoft Word conversion is the last step before submitting a story.  Most publishers go the clunky Microsoft route.  Up until the day I tried to save said story, I hadn’t realized just how much Al had insinuated himself into my operating system.

When you go to save a Pages document, the default used to be “Untitled.”  That was never a problem for me because I’d go in through the finder and change it manually.  Now Al is “reading” your document and suggesting a title for you.  This particular story had a creative title that existed in my head, but not in the body of the fiction itself.  At least not in any obvious way.  I opened a new document in Pages, pasted my content in and went to save it.  A title that missed the point of my story entirely glowed in the Save As field.  Al wanted to “help” by naming my creative fiction.  If there was a way to turn off AI on my Mac, I would.  I don’t want it.  I try not to use it at all.  With software updates nearly weekly now, how long before the creative process, when done on a computer, is taken over completely? Hey Al, I don’t want, or need, your help.