"I feel like I’m working more with ChatGPT than humans": Advice on AI workslop
Plus: Bloomberg's Kira Bindrim on using generative AI in a way that's actually helpful
Welcome to The Writethrough! Last week we featured a longtime media reporter’s shift into PR, and discussed brand building as a reporter.
My friend M. teaches writing to college students, and while she was visiting over the weekend I asked her how her job had changed because of ChatGPT. She says that 95% of the time, she can tell when an essay was mostly penned by ChatGPT, whether because of its flat affect, its lack of specific examples, or the fact that a student who normally has trouble with grammar and punctuation has suddenly produced an error-free paper.
What was particularly striking to me is that she said her students often seem sad about using generative AI, even though they still do it. They think it’s more interesting to come up with their own ideas and write their own outlines and drafts. But their desire to be productive pushes them to turn to ChatGPT so they can do more work, faster.
Of course, the efficiency of AI is also why some people — including journalists — like it so much. Personally, I haven’t been too impressed with its ability to drum up headlines or interview questions so far. Its suggestions are often acceptable but obvious, the kinds of options I could easily come up with myself. How much do I want to spare my brain the work of thinking even obvious thoughts?
On the other hand, maybe I’m the problem. It’s possible my prompts are too general, or the tasks I’ve tried assigning aren’t the best use of the tool. I worry sometimes that I’ll be left behind in the field if I don’t find more ways to weave AI into my daily routines, whether I like it or not.
I feel a bit more optimistic about experimenting with AI thanks to our interview with Kira Bindrim, the managing editor of Bloomberg’s weekend edition. Kira offers details about how she uses AI at her job every day while remaining clear-eyed about its pitfalls — “It gets things wrong, and it gets things wrong with confidence,” she notes.
Read on to learn how she sees it as a crowdsourcing tool, plus advice from career coach Penelope Jones for a newsroom leader who’s frustrated with her team for using ChatGPT as a crutch. — Sarah Todd
Ask a Career Coach: Penelope Jones on AI workslop
Dear Career Coach,
I’m part of the leadership team of a small digital newsroom. I’m hoping to leave to pursue solo projects at some point, but until I’m able to do so, I’m struggling with the amount that my colleagues are using ChatGPT in everything from email replies to content ideation to leadership communiques (aka “workslop.”). It’s not that I’m opposed to using generative AI to support our work, but it’s obvious my colleagues aren’t editing or thinking critically about the responses ChatGPT is giving them. Sometimes I feel like I’m working more with ChatGPT than human beings. Should I try to bring this up and even try to craft a policy on restricting ChatGPT use, or am I fighting against the tide? Also, how much should I waste my energy given I have one foot out the door?
This question mirrors something I often see with clients: that the “real question,” or the thing that has lingered unsaid throughout, comes out right at the end of a session. It strikes me that the real “ask” of this question might be for permission. Permission to let this be someone else’s problem to solve, if it is to be solved at all, and to be allowed to move on.
If you feel strongly that energy spent pushing back against this tide of unfiltered AI use would be wasted, that no one is questioning it but you, and you have already made your decision to leave — chances are that energy would be much better invested in activities which would help the rest of you follow your foot out the door. Things that energize rather than drain you, and build rather than deplete your confidence in your own work and standards.
This would allow you to make your exit feel more of a movement toward the solo projects you mention, rather than a movement away from a role, team, or culture you’ve outgrown. That is, something you are actively working toward, rather than something you are hoping will happen.
Perhaps this is the final sign you needed that this is not the right place for you to be just now? That this is not your circus, and these are not your monkeys… or robots, as the case may be.
If you were still feeling committed to this company or the team, perhaps you would be less sensitive to what you perceive as its failings, more able to feel curious rather than critical about your colleagues collectively outsourcing their voices to AI.
Or perhaps this isn’t really a question about this organization at all, and reflects a view on the wider industry and a fear that what you are seeing is a rising tide that you feel powerless to escape from — no matter what you do?
Either way, a policy simply restricting use of AI feels unlikely to be of much use at this stage — like trying to stuff a sleeping bag back into its sack after a festival.
Instead, whether in this role, or elsewhere, try to observe and understand how and why AI is being used as it is, and what clues that gives you about yourself and others.
What does it tell you about the people, the processes, and the culture of an organization, and how does that feel as a fit for you and what you want and need from work?
How can you challenge yourself, and others, to experiment with and highlight the beneficial aspects of AI — where it can enhance process or output (or both) and stimulate critical thinking and conversation — rather than getting stuck in more basic applications which leave you wondering where the humans went?
Penelope Jones is the founder of My So-Called Career, offering career coaching, workshops and courses, and hosting a powerful self-supporting community of women navigating their own so-called careers. She spent almost two decades in media at the Guardian and Conde Nast and now brings that experience to bear in her client work. She writes a monthly newsletter of her own you can check out here.
How Bloomberg editor Kira Bindrim uses AI — and what she’ll never ask it to do
Kira Bindrim is the managing editor of Bloomberg Weekend and someone who’s actually succeeded at using generative AI (GAI) in her everyday work. We interviewed her about how she does it.
What kinds of generative AI do you use in your personal vs. professional life?
