Writing for Robots
Writing for Robots
How Practicing Writing Prepares Us for Our Future with AI
Writing is one of the most powerful and diverse tools that we have.
My first experience with creativity and self-expression was through writing.
I barely remember how or why I started, no one instructed me to, but I have memories of sitting in class and writing out the strange patterns and expressions of my developing mind and the identity and understanding it was hoping to find.
I knew no one but myself would ever read the passages, but I somehow felt more understood and in balance by collecting these difficult new thoughts and emotions and manifesting them outside myself.
I didn’t realize it then, but looking back, writing was an extremely helpful tool for me to work through dark and difficult adolescent emotions. It somehow made me feel more sane and in control. It simply made me feel better.
That habit and practice of externalizing expressions and emotions eventually led me to music. That beautiful and more abstract medium allowed me to more safely reveal parts of my vulnerable self to the world. Through that I was able to process, grow and connect even more.
I only fairly recently started publicly publishing any actual writing (this newsletter), but my history with the practice of it has been extremely useful for processing emotions, collecting thoughts and growing to be a more effective communicator.
A good relationship with writing can benefit you too.
Writing for Mental Health
Outside of my own personal experience processing emotions, research has shown that expressive writing and journaling can lead to improvements in both psychological and physical well-being.
Studies by Dr. James Pennebaker, a pioneer in expressive writing research, demonstrate that journaling about stressful or traumatic experiences can reduce symptoms of anxiety, depression, and even strengthen immune function. By regularly expressing thoughts and feelings through writing, individuals can better understand and manage their emotions, leading to improved mental health outcomes and greater emotional resilience.
Writing can even help with sleep.
Writing down worries before bed is a powerful way to organize thoughts and externalize anxiety, creating a mental roadmap for addressing concerns the next day. This practice, similar to mental decluttering, improves sleep quality by providing a structured outlet for unresolved thoughts, allowing the mind to relax. Research shows that expressive writing can alleviate anxiety and enhance emotional clarity, making it easier to process worries with a fresh perspective in the morning. By dedicating a few minutes each night to jotting down concerns and action steps, individuals can achieve a sense of closure, leading to more restful sleep and a more focused approach to tackling issues upon waking.
You can start your own journaling practice by setting aside a few minutes each morning or evening in a quiet space. Use a notebook or digital app, and write freely about your thoughts and feelings without worrying about grammar or structure. Aim to journal daily, even if only for a few minutes. Over time, this practice can help you process emotions, reduce stress, and gain greater clarity and self-awareness.
Writing for Consolidation of Thought and Effective Communication
Beyond the value of processing emotions, effective writing is essential in our increasingly online professional world. Developing strong writing skills can enhance your job performance and even help you build your own business.
Clear and concise writing is crucial for remote work and email communication, where misunderstandings can lead to costly errors. In remote work settings, writing ensures that ideas and instructions are conveyed accurately, fostering better collaboration and productivity among team members.
In the entrepreneurial realm, writing is indispensable for organizing business plans and concepts.
Whether drafting a detailed business proposal or creating social content, clear writing helps articulate your vision and strategy effectively.
Published online content, such as blog posts and articles, not only builds your brand but also establishes your authority in your field. By honing your writing skills, you can present complex ideas in an accessible way, making it easier to attract and engage with your audience.
Ultimately, writing aids in the consolidation of thought, allowing you to refine your ideas and communicate them with clarity, whether you're addressing a team, potential investors, or your customer base.
Writing as Prompting Practice
Writing and language are the foundations of our culture and society as humans and have been the key to advancement of civilization for thousands of years.
We are now entering an era where human language is going through a Renaissance and becoming more important than ever for a new reason…
Communication with machines.
As ChatGPT and other AI chatbots have quickly integrated into our daily lives, their power and potential are apparent. But, if you’re like me, once you get past the novelty prompts of lists of jokes and movies to watch and asking it to write a movie script about a human that falls in love with an AI, it can be a little difficult to get the exact results that you want.
The deeper you get into a concept or topic, the more context and clarity that you have to provide in your prompt text. Going further, if you want a specific format or style, you need to provide good examples to show the AI what you expect to get in response.
When I first started prompting with ChatGPT, I admit I struggled a bit to find more complex answers that I was looking for. I had to put in real work to define and communicate exactly what it was that I expected. It took me longer than I wanted it to.
Around that same time (about a year ago) that I started regularly using ChatGPT, I was starting to write regularly in a practice that led to the creation of this newsletter.
On that path as well, I struggled in the beginning to efficiently organize the concepts and thoughts on a topic into the final form of well written and articulated text. I could always find a concept, but translating that to a coherent and well flowing article was tough.
Sometimes it would take me many hours or even days to finally get to something I was satisfied with.
But over time I started to get better. The path from concept to outline to written text got shorter and shorter and less painstaking as I was able to flow thoughts to typed words more easily.
Like so many things, practice makes progress and the iteration of repetition more strongly connects the neural pathways from brain to fingers until it becomes second nature.
The more you “get your reps in”, the less you have to consciously think about the specific actions and the more you can unconsciously flow.
As I’ve been able to think less and flow more with writing, it’s been a pleasant and encouraging surprise to notice how that progress has made me a better prompter and communicator with AI.
Human Language is the New Code
We are now firmly set in the AI Revolution, the next evolution of civilization. The key ability for harnessing the potential of the powerful machines that are evolving all around us is our communication with them.
For the history of computers up until now, that communication has always been done through code.
Code is a language.
It is a complex and largely abstract language that requires rigid structure and organization, but at its core it is a language with which to communicate with machines.
As AI continues to get smarter, the language needed to communicate with it will get less and less complex, all the way up to the achievement of AGI (Artificial General Intelligence) when we will be able to converse with and direct it exactly as we would another human. Albeit a human with the intelligence of the entire internet and beyond.
AGI may still be a ways off, but with ChatGPT, Google Gemini, Claude, and all the other chatbots out there, the ability to write clear and concise instructions with human language is powerful for leveraging their potential.
As AI continues to get smarter improve, more work will be done via human language instruction of machines. The core of that work on our end is the organization of thought and clear communication through writing.
The same skill that I’m practicing while writing this newsletter.
I’ll admit, sometimes I get short on time or tired or lack focus for some reason or other, and I procrastinate or put off my writing.
But now realizing all the benefits from mental health, professional acumen to the ability to effectively communicate with our AI co-workers of the future, it’s easier than ever to find motivation.
~ Michael
Exciting Tech of The Week
ChatGPT-4o
https://openai.com/index/hello-gpt-4o/
The crystal ball of yesterday’s Sci-Fi fiction continues to predict the future of today. Recently OpenAI released a new version of their GPT model, ChatGPT-4o (the “o” stands for “omni”), and even Sam Altman is making references to the movie “Her” with it’s new, improved ability to converse with a life like and emotive sounding voice.
There’s even drama brewing around how close they made the voice to sound like Scarlett Johansson after she reportedly rejected a deal to license her own voice.
SciFi drama aside, it is a step forward in the AI capabilities race, albeit a smaller and seemingly more marketing fueled one. Here is more about the model:
ChatGPT-4o boasts several exciting new features that set it apart. It has a significantly improved understanding of nuanced language, allowing it to handle complex and detailed conversations with ease. The AI also excels in context retention, remembering the flow of longer chats without requiring constant reminders. Whether you're managing a major project, seeking creative inspiration, or simply looking for a smart conversational partner, ChatGPT-4o is designed to meet your needs. This update marks a leap forward, making AI interaction smoother and more intelligent.
My Creative Updates
Things have felt a bit crazy lately as I attempt to balance client work, side projects and fitting in creativity where I can. Add to that a potential move coming up, and I get scatterbrained more easily lately.
That said I’m doing a decent job of keeping up and learning more and more about process and decision making with each push, so as always, progress…
We are working on an awesome feature for Niche Creator which involves training a chatbot on ways to help multipotentialites get unstuck. It’s been a really fun process to learn, albeit sometimes wrapping my mind in a bit of knot. Working with training AI on data is a different way of thinking that falls somewhere between creative and technical, so it takes a different kind of energy to work on. I’m really grateful to have a cool project with which to explore this kind of cutting edge tech and am excited to talk more about it in the near future.
Musically, I have a handful of songs I’m itching to record, so trying to time box sessions here and there to make progress on that.
As I mentioned in a previous article, I used a recent show as a deadline to try to finish a new song. As proof, here is a short clip of me performing the newly written song for the first time. It’s called “Not Our Time.”