LinkedIn rolled out a new button that allows users to label posts, articles, or whatever as “seems like AI slop.” I understand the general sentiment for wanting to reduce AI slop on LinkedIn. However, for people like me that post regularly and NEVER use AI to write or develop content, this is a potentially harmful option. It’s harmful because there is no mechanism to prevent someone from intentionally mislabeling something as AI slop. I 100% disagree with this feature on LinkedIn. If someone thinks something seems like AI slop, then they don’t have to read it. But giving everyone the ability to label whatever they want as AI slop could backfire and may force good writers off of the platform.
What’s troublesome about this feature is not what it does, but why it had to be added in the first place. The fact that so many people have surrendered to completely using AI to create content are robbing themselves of the benefits of writing and self-expression.
The human brain has unlimited imagination and creativity. Writing is one of the best ways for us to communicate and articulate how we feel or what we think about someone or something. It is a skill that mankind has developed over millennia that started with neanderthals using ashes to draw stick figures of animals on cave walls. The oldest such drawing are the decorated cave paintings known as Grotte Chauvet-Pont d’Arc located in southern France. These paintings are estimated to have been drawn 30,000 to 32,000 years ago. These relics serve as a reminder of the importance of written communication and why we should seek to improve this skill; not diminish it over time by accepting sub-par, amalgamated writings generated by emotionless, unintelligent machines.
Furthermore, my prediction is that the business leaders of tomorrow will be those who understand and double down on the importance of authenticity and human connection. Throughout the course of modern history, the one variable that has never changed and is always needed is a human. No matter how groundbreaking the technological innovation, without an end-user, the product or service doesn’t matter. Somehow many of us have forgotten or have chosen to ignore this simple truth.
We’re constantly on our phones ignoring those around us. We mindlessly binge watch hours of videos, movies and shows with no regard to the long-term effects this might have on our relationships and our perception of the world around us. We’re in constant search of another dopamine hit from social media when the truth is, none of that stuff really matters anyway.
What makes the human race superior is our ability to maintain control of the tools we create/invent (AI, social media, etc.) to improve ourselves, not diminish ourselves. Writing and thinking are two of the skills we’ve developed over thousands of years that we should seek to improve. AI-generated writing is a regurgitation of the knowledge derived from mankind. Society’s over-reliance on it makes us worse, not better. We should pause and think deeply about our own abilities because each person’s voice/style makes them unique. The idea that we’ve arrived at a point where a tech company has to implement measures to save us our from ourselves suggests it’s time to wake up.
