Ep.26: TRUST - Did you REALLY create that, or did ChatGPT?

With the advent of generative AI and LLM’s like ChatGPT, Claude etc. we are on a very slippery slope in the content creation world. Have you ever started reading an article from someone you know, and an uneasiness comes over you? Did they actually write this, because it doesn’t sound like them? Is this genuinely their “work” or have they succumbed to the seduction of getting CHATGPT to be their “ghost writer”, although claiming the work to be their own? Dang … now we’re faced with that core component of every relationship - TRUST! Can we trust any future work they create? 

Yes, copying, using and plagiarizing other people’s work has (unfortunately) been around since the invention of time, but the stakes are a lot higher now with AI, social media and the advances in technology. And I also admit in the early days of my career that I didn’t even know it was wrong to copy someone’s work! I didn’t understand IP or copyright laws, and what could or couldn’t be used. Nor did I appreciate the integrity and ethics surrounding it, nor the inherent advantages of developing your own content from scratch. That “source code” is difficult to replicate - I’ve got some interesting stories on that in the Podcast.

By short cutting the process using generative AI we’re not only sacrificing our own integrity, we’re also DUMBING ourselves down. By “outsourcing” the content creation, we’re risking developing creative muscular atrophy! Use it or lose it! Whatever we stop doing, our brain and body forgets how!

Trust is the new currency in so many ways, and in a world where it’s becoming increasingly more difficult to distinguish between original work and AI generated, we might need to start asking ourselves some tough questions. Creative integrity is becoming a thing of the past and not only is this having a catastrophic affect on our abilities in those areas, we’re also throwing out the very fabric that makes us human - good old fallibility. When I read an article that has been genuinely written by the said author, I feel like I am closer to them - that I understand them that little bit more. That I've been given an insight into their mind, heart and soul. And THAT is precious.

I’m not saying to not use generative AI - I use it all the time for certain things! What I am saying is that it might serve us all to be honest with what we are sharing as "our own", because once we destroy trust, it can be very difficult to get back. As I said to a former “colleague” once, the truth always rises to the surface. You might be good at fooling people now, but dishonesty always has a way of coming back to bite you.

So rather than cut and paste our way through life, let’s build that trust equity with our communities, our team and ourselves by offering integrous work. I’m hoping this Podcast will be a good gut check for us all.