ai-tools-kill-creativity

3 AI Tools That Are Killing Your Creativity by the Second

Anmol Ratan Sachdeva
Anmol Ratan Sachdeva 
The world is currently in the middle of a mediocrity storm (at least my world is), and the reason is AI…..

The other day, I was on Reddit and read a post — “Long Time Writer. Struggling to Type an SMS after ChatGPT”. 

I couldn't bookmark the post back then (and the algorithm is not helping me search for it, if you saw the post, please share). Till then, no screenshots here. But trust me; it was there! 

The OP for the post mentioned how he had been a long-time writer with a book published under their name and countless articles. But since ChatGPT launched, he has struggled to even write an SMS without asking ChatGPT for assistance. :( 

 

Seems impossible, right? But that’s not a single case. 

Personally, I’ve been talking around, and everyone shares the same take — it’s now getting harder to start fresh. Most writers today head to ChatGPT (or some kind of AI writer) to start their first draft. 

Years ago, I launched an online community —Unblocking the Writer’s Block. Our goal was to help fight our writer's block so that we could write. Sadly, no one was committed to the goal and the initiative failed.

But when AI tools first came into the picture, it felt amazing — you won't have to stare at a blank document for hours waiting for inspiration now. But of late, AI tools have become a calamity (shitstorm, you can say).

One that many don't even see…

In one of my old articles about Mediocrity, I mentioned about the famous scene in The Incredibles where Mr. Incredible said, 'Mediocrity is psychotic, and the world keeps creating new ways to Celebrate Mediocrity.' 

Well, it seems ChatGPT (and all AI tools) is another way for all of us to celebrate mediocre thought and content. And in the process, it is crippling millions, snatching their ability to think creatively. 

If you started the journey for the love of creativity & passion, beware of these AI tools.

1. ChatGPT — The #1 Creativity Killer  

Well, you know about it pretty well. So, I won’t bore you with specifics. 

But the thing is — ChatGPT is killing everyone’s natural creativity. Let me share how. 

We, as humans, are naturally lazy (at least the current generation). If there’s an easy way, we’ll hack into it for success. The same is happening right now with ChatGPT. 

Suddenly, it's so easy for everyone to become a writer. The ‘barrier to entry’ is too low. 

Naturally, you see every ‘Tom, Dick & Harry’ being a ‘Freelance Writer’, Personal Branding Expert, and Copywriter on LinkedIn. (God Save the Founders Who Trust LinkedIn creds at the face in 2023). 

All they are doing is — hopping on a call, assuring clients about their 'strategy and planning', hiring a cheap VA or writer off the internet (there are thousands hungry for an opportunity), outsourcing the work, telling them to use ChatGPT or any AI tool, and deliver a half-assed effort to the client. 

Well, people have hacked the 'success story' formula even without ChatGPT long ago. There was an American developer who used to outsource his work at a job to China and earned millions before they found out back in 2013 (more here).

That’s the kind of ‘shit’ everyone is preaching and promoting — a hack to earn millions in weeks or months. 

And that’s the sad part here — everything has become too easy for everyone that there is no incentive to work hard, think originally, and write/create something. 

It's all about 'data' now — if something is performing well, just give ChatGPT some references (which 'smartbois' call prompt feeding or engineering), and you have a new recipe for success. 

Ironically, we used to laugh at this shit not so long ago… 

Sadly, the novel approach is now long lost. 

Now, everyone needs 'data points' to replicate or reverse engineer the success of someone else. And what's better than using our computing power to create 'data-driven' content :D 

I am not sarcastic here — ChatGPT has been trained over years of 'content' or LLM (Large Language Model). Basically, the devs mean it took content over the internet to create a sense of 'sentience' so it can answer any of your questions. In reality, it's just recycling 'old thoughts' into new words.

What you know in Hindi as — "Nayi bottle me purani sharab!" 

No wonder we're seeing a flood of mediocre posts and constantly getting a 'Deja Vu' nowadays ki 'sab padha/dekha suna hua hai pehle'. Because the concept of original thought is now lost.

Coherence and sense are lost…. The creativity and fun in creation are lost… Because everyone is busy feeding 'old talk' into the 'shiny object'. 

And don’t give me the BS about ‘creative’ prompt engineering for ChatGPT. Already tried it and tired of it, which brings me to my next tool... 

2. AI Writing Tools You Love Right Now 

Jasper, ClosersCopy, Quillbot, or any other tool. I don't care. If you are using these for creating content, you're murdering your craft very slowly. 

It's like a conscious crime — you know you are getting addicted to it but fail to get away from the lure of 'ease'. 

I started tinkering with AI tools back in 2020 or 2021, and I do have a ClosersCopy subscription. For the first few weeks, I was also fascinated but understood soon that it was ruining me instead of helping me. 

So, instead of using it for Content Creation, I started learning the art of prompt engineering (even before the term had almost zero search volumes). I ended up making 50+ ClosersCopy frameworks (that's what trained prompts are called inside CC) and made it live in the CC library. This also resulted in the creation of heyfinch.in too, which became one of my non-serious side projects. 

Long story short, AI writing tools are fun, but think of them as 'dopamine hits' that will soon cripple you to use them, or else you will be in an endless loop of 'withdrawal symptoms'.

You will soon start questioning your worth — if you even write well, and that will start showing up on your first drafts initially. 

I personally know a few writers/marketers who confess that they can’t write first drafts now without AI’s help. They end up refining the whole blog later, leading to extra effort (and time), which is counterproductive to the whole ‘AI saving time’ debate. 

Not to mention the recycled nature of AI generations — it is just like using someone's idea, spinning it, and serving that as 'your work' to the client. 

This makes me recall an episode of Guilty Minds — a web series on Prime Video. In the courtroom drama, some music directors sue the creator of software that uses AI to create 'new music forms'. The artists debate that AI is committing plagiarism by using existing music to create new songs.

The episode depicts a classic catch-22 situation, just like the recent debate on ethics & originality about AI-generated art. In the show, the judge favors the real creators over the AI. God knows what would happen with real lawsuits concerning AI art in real life. 

Just like the show, Generative AI has started the same debate — is a draft created using AI truly yours? 

Think carefully… Isn’t it just a form of recycling using an advanced content spinner we all hated and despised in the last decade, seeing that as a lowly form of creating content? 

It seems all ‘successful’ influencers are preaching the use of AI for creating social media posts, writing product descriptions, creating YouTube scripts, etc. 

No wonder the internet is turning out to be so monotonous and boring of late. And slowly we have also started accepting mediocrity…

3. Mass Cold Email Tools 

Well, if you have been hanging around Twitter or LinkedIn, or AppSumo a lot, you would have seen an influx of cold email generators (or email lead gen tools). 

These tools make it easy for you to ‘humanize’ your cold emails by: 

  • Finding relevant accounts/leads; 
  • Picking data points to ‘humanize’ the first few lines of your cold emails;
  • Mass-write hundreds of emails for you. 

The first time I tried these tools, it felt good, but soon I realized — these might be good but are ‘shit’ when it comes to building a connection with the reader. Because most of the time, I only can see people who reply (which is not a lot considering the number of ‘pitches’ we all receive every day in our inbox). 

This led me to think — wasn't the whole point of a successful cold pitch (or proposal) to know your recipient deeply and make him curious about your uniqueness? 

Well, that’s what I have learned and preached for a long time. 

I also wrote an article on sending cold pitches on Medium previously (Which is incidentally the best-performing article I have written on Medium to date).

The coming of AI pitching tools definitely makes it easy for you to send cold pitches at a massive scale (which might bring you the results you desire), but in the early years of your career (or startup), it's important to be creative in your pitches because that's what gives you insights to sail through the later years. 

When you automate even pitching, you are relying on an algorithm that might (or might not) get you closer to your goals. You might be happy seeing the 'number of opens' on your pitches, but will they help you create a critical thinking mindset to crack your product-market fit? I believe not. 

I know founders who use AI with a pinch of salt for this purpose, but never have I seen anyone succeed only by sending 'dull' AI pitches (if you know someone, do let me know in the comments. I'd be happy to take my words back). 

But till the time I don't find one, I will die on the hill — AI pitches don't work (and will never work) because there's a human on the other side of the screen who yearns for an 'honest' conversation (and not a computer-generated mass email). 

My Take on Automation, AI Writers, and Everything in Between… 

I am not an automation 'hater'. In fact, I was an early evangelist (many friends call me even today to get suggestions for automating their process). But I firmly believe 'creativity' shouldn't be automated, at least not the first thought. 

If you are justifying your usage of AI for ‘creating the first draft’, you are already stuck in a loop — you will use it more and more, become dependent on it, and will soon lose your creativity and ‘thinking streak’. 

No longer will you have an original thought in your head, and you will turn into a recycler soon — Guzzing content (or creation) after content which is in some way just a mediocre attempt at bringing out your thoughts to the world. 

It's productive — yes it is, for sure. But when did an artist or creator enjoy being 'productive' in the course of history? 

I am still an artist at heart who loathes at the 'toxic positivity' around being a content creator since COVID happened. The reason I 'slowed down' over the past three years. 

I am not a machine to produce content after content every single day. I don't want to fall into the lure of 'consistency'. In the process, if it means getting a smaller part of the pie, I am happy with it. 

But I know for sure that I won't be writing 'shitty' pieces with no intention to 'help' or 'provoke' anyone but to please the algorithms. 

What to do to preserve your 'creative streak' and stand out in a cyclone of Mediocrity? 

 

Well, I can end up this piece by giving you actionable advice or 5-steps to preserve your creativity. But I won’t. 

Because ChatGPT might give you an answer in 3 seconds... or even less.

Go feed the following prompt — Can you give me five ways to help me become more creative? Remember, I am a human and know the basics. I just need some actionable tips to set my everyday routine around preserving my creative thoughts).

Instead, I would just quote an example from my 'human observation': 

Do you feel sad about the music that we hear every day, the recent one in the past 5–6 years? Almost all the movies we watch have just poor 'remixes' of successful 'old songs'. I can say that they are trying to recycle and replicate the successes of the past. And we all know what that has done to the industry's reputation (and the music industry, in general). 

When you try to use AI too much in your work and daily life, you are susceptible to the same treatment. You won't get the repercussions immediately, but your clients, followers, and audience will slowly start calling you out for being 'boring', 'dull', and 'repetitive'. 

You don't want that, right? 

So, instead of just using AI (trained on past data), feel, observe, read, and create new experiences for yourself . Then, use them to write your heart out (or express in any way you love). 

Remember, you are an artist — you don't need fancy tech to show your value to the world… You are fine with a pen and paper, too. Your scribbles would save you from Mediocrity and help you stand out. 

This advice is strictly for someone who wants to get better (or more fulfilled with their work) in 2023, not the 'wannabe' influencers who just want to chase 'numbers' on social media to flex. Using AI to create 'mediocre' pieces sounds just right for them.

All the best! 

PS: I know you might not subscribe to my thought process, so not asking you to subscribe or share, too. But just in case this article made sense, do drop me a Whatsapp text so that I know I am not alone in feeling sad about the loss of creativity in digital world. Whatsapp me now. 

 




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