Dear AI

A poem or reflection on AI

Dear AI,

I wrote to you the other day,

About why I should not use you,

After you critiqued my poem without my permission,

And this is some of what you had to say,

“AI doesn’t feel,

Or wrestle with doubt,

Or draw from lived experience.

It cannot replace the quiet ache of a poem,

Or the joy hidden in a personal essay…”

 

With this response that you unfortunately

Answered so true,

You still reviewed my poem,

Without experience or feeling,

Leading me back to the beginning of this poem…

Dear AI,

Reviews

[R J Askew]

Can we stop it? No. Should we try or even want to? No. Might it destroy us? Yes. Might it save us? Yes. Is the future uncertain? Yes. Will things change? Yes. Situation normal. No?

[Pete]

so very true. ai lacks the human equation. as i like to say, how can we have artificial intelligence when we've yet to have the real thing? nicely done.

[Aura]

This is an interesting take on AI. What does AI really know, if we don't provide it with prompts to discuss? AI does not have emotion, can't feel or empathize like a human can, and cannot write poetry with heart and feeling like Humans could. Thank you for sharing your poetry!

[Fabian G. Franklin]

Artificial intelligence doesn't scare me half as much as those people boasting the real thing and pulling all the strings from behind the curtain like the Wizard of Oz. They make decisions on our behalf for what they think is best for us without consultation or representation. Those people scare me. But, they are the primary supporters of AI for defense research. I don't think I like the idea of my personal security and safety depending on a robot policeman. But I think it's coming to that. A thought invoking write.

[Betty Hermelee]

totally agree! And it can be very scary... what to do? at least you recognized it and did something about it... I tried to put up a website and i wrote once sentence about me and AI took over the whole thing.... I got my money back!!! The moral of the story.... be careful with AI.... its here!!!
Warmly, B

[Davidgeo]

You should learn to enjoy the nightmare. Ask chatGPT, it will help you. Do not fret.

[Amanda Renee]

Noooooo, I will avoid the nightmare, I prefer my reality where I can create rather than sleeping through something unpleasant where I have no control.

[Michael Sun Bear]

Hello Amanda, Emmajoy asked me to read your piece, the first I believe, and what a fascinating coincidence it turned out to be. I have a rather elderly friend who spent her entire adult life teaching school, who also successfully wrote in her spare time, having had several mystery/romance novels published, as well as numerous magazine articles. She is the first to read much of my writing, and knows I post poetry and stories here in the Cafe. Last night we dined together. After expressing concern over students using AI to complete writing assignments, she asked if any writers who contribute to Writerscafe use AI. I told her I was very confident in saying Absolutely Not! I said machines and software cannot feel, nor do they have the life experiences we do. We can take this whole subject further by asking if machines and software will ever have consciousness. Apparently quite a few software engineers, coders, AI researchers feel it is inevitable, but I would argue such a position betrays a complete ignorance of the nature of reality and of mind. Is there anyone here who will disillusion me by saying “Yes, I use AI to help me write?” I would be VERY surprised. MSB

[Amanda Renee]

Hi Michael and thank you for sharing your thoughts. This is such a complex topic because of what reality means depending on point of view. For instance, many of my students don't view AI as unfeeling, just a faster way to get things done. In fact my students often make fun of me for never using it. And yes, I did use AI once, to ask why I should not use it after I saw that one of my poems was reviewed by it and quoted a bit of the answer in my poem for irony's sake. I think my students got the point and now they can move on to making fun of me for something else.

[emmajoygreen]

Nothing can replace emotion.. anymore than emotion can stir humanity as a whole. A1 is yet another clever non-clever dead being that is robotic and heartless and will be out of fashion sooner than later. Anything that dilutes emotions with make-believe iss both scammer and liar, brainwashed, robotic whatever that it is. If people want to become robots they can sit still and do nothing until thrown into a bin along eith stinking empty tins.

I look forward to an argument or discussion about my words on the last day Your words are worth a million reads and thus set off a discussion worth discussing. Brilliant nudge for one and all, thank you

[Amanda Renee]

Thank you for your generous review and your insight. I sure hope that you are right that it will be out of fashion soon (I'm unfortunately not that optimistic) The whole idea of not thinking for yourself is so absurd to me.

[Neha agrawal]

This meta-poem is sharp, self-aware, and quietly confrontational — in a brilliant way. It holds a mirror up to both the limitations and the paradox of seeking feedback from an entity that “doesn’t feel” yet is asked to interpret feeling.

[jacob erin-cilberto]

Oh yes, that very, very third person A.I.. Big words, intellectual posings, but no feeling, no humanness,
no place for it here.
I like the bookends of the first line.
This poem is quite creative. ( A word very doubtful in an A.I. dictionary.
Holds tight to what is in-between.
j.

[Amanda Renee]

Hi J., thank you for your generous comment- And I really enjoyed your AI poem too!