No AI here

In my dayjob, I work in high tech. I use AI every day — including to support ‘content creation’, ie writing, editing, research, and design. It’s expected in my industry, and honestly I find it works much better than it used to, certainly well enough to be a junior assistant to me.

But morally, I have significant misgivings about AI. Others have expressed that much better than I could.

And personally, I enjoy creating without AI. I am a good, even great, writer. I take passable photos. I can proofread and edit. I can come up with my own ideas for posts, formulate my own thoughts, and in my areas of obsessive expertise, I know enough to explain a topic without resorting to ChatGPT for research.

Perhaps more importantly, I hope this place will become a little piece of the ‘old web’ where people created and shared just because that’s what you did, and they did it at a human pace. ChatGPT makes you faster — what need do I have for speed? ChatGPT can help you optimise for engagement — who am I competing against?

So I’ll make this commitment to you now: every word you read on this site will have come from my fingertips. Every photo will be from my lens, unless I credit otherwise. If that changes, I’ll let you know.