AI and the Creative Process: Finding Balance

After the girls' high school swim season ended, I discovered I had amassed over 300 pages of swim workouts scattered across my computer. On a whim, I uploaded them all to Claude, the AI assistant my husband regularly uses. Now, when I need to create new swimming sets, Claude helps me design them using both my historical workout data and the specific focus I want for that day. It's remarkably effective—and yes, a tiny bit unsettling. But I still maintain control over the final product, exercising my judgment on any output, which helps me feel like I'm still "driving the bus."

Rob helped me set up my project with Claude and urged me to test out different scenarios. According to Amazon Web Services, as much as 57% of all online content is generated by AI. As consumers of information,  it's important to recognize this fact and to be aware of how the technology works. 

My mother is visiting from Montana, and we've just revived a children's book project we started during the pandemic. I have three rough drafts and valuable feedback from a brilliant member of my writing club. Yesterday, we took our first chapter to Claude with specific requests: put the action first, trim the exposition, and refine the dialogue to authentically reflect both the character's age and the late 1940s setting.

The experience is fascinating. After each reading, we tell Claude what needs adjustment and watch as edits appear in real-time. We read, suggest changes, and iterate again. As someone with an English degree and a Master's in Creative Writing, I should be horrified by these efficiencies and mourn the diminishing need for writing expertise. Instead, I find myself more excited than upset. After all, the words originated with me, and the editorial direction remains mine. Claude never tires and never takes my changes personally. I keep reassuring myself that the quality of the final product depends on the quality of my input—at least for now.

My husband reminds me that AI is growing more sophisticated and capable of learning every day. AI already shapes many aspects of our daily lives, from how we shop online to how we connect with news, friends, and products through apps. I acknowledge the potential dangers when AI is used unethically, and I remain wary of the AI industry's growing influence in Washington.

But right now, I'm simply enjoying the experience of collaboratively rewriting a book with my mother—and Claude—hopefully transforming it into something truly engaging for readers.

PS - This blog post was also edited by Claude. ;-)

Cutting

 We had our Family Day brunch on Sunday and sat outside blinking in the bright Colorado sunshine as icicles dripped and splattered off the table behind us. The conversation ranged widely from swimming to school classes to politics. Our kids are a bit concerned about what the economy will do when affected by tariffs and job cuts. They can already see the online jobs websites flooded by recent layoffs.

The idea of cutting back on waste and trimming fat is not inherently bad or wrong. Our son, William, even mentioned that he wanted to personally "cut" to get in better aerobic shape and reduce any extra weight (not that he carries much on his 21-year-old frame).  But ruthless cuts can injure a body, a staff, a company, a country. 

Let's look at National Parks, for example, whose staff recently lost 1,000 full-time positions. My family and friends visit National Parks several times per year and we rely on staff to let us in, help us park, provide clean restrooms and maintain trails. Not only have these staffers lost their dream job - for which they are highly qualified - but park visitors will not see helpful rangers, not experience clean facilities,  not receive medical aid after injuries and face more threats from wildfires. 

These cuts are reckless. There is no plan for how to operate our National Parks going forward, no fall-back, no appreciation for the importance of our National spaces. National Parks have been flooded with visitors since COVID and - despite their growing popularity - have now been carelessly trashed.  If you want to comment on the layoffs please visit npca.org/jobcuts. Enough is enough.

Family Day - 17 Years Later

 I wrote this paragraph in 2018, on the ten year anniversary of our Family Day, when Daniel received his U.S. passport:

-February 14, 2018

I remember talking with the grandparents of another young boy who was going home that day. The grandmother explained that she and her husband had to come finish the adoption process for her daughter as the younger woman was now nine months pregnant and couldn't fly. She mused on how close her grandchildren would be in age (less than one year) and on how different they would look.

"You're so lucky," she said, her eyes sweeping across our fair-skinned Daniel, playing with his siblings. "He will be able to pass," and her eyes fell to the darker-skinned baby in her arms, "and our grandchild definitely will not."

I had to pause and blink several times as I processed her statement. "Pass?" I repeated with at a higher octave. I felt like I'd been thrown back to a previous century.

"Yes, pass. He will look white, like the rest of you. This little one," and she patted his plump, dimpled arm "will not."

I never forgot her statement, couldn't believe people were thinking that way and using the word "pass" as if it was still important to pretend to be white in the 21st century. 

Fast forward to early January, when Daniel and I were discussing our new government's policies on immigrants, he shocked me by saying virtually the same thing as the woman in the embassy, "I'm lucky - I look like you guys. I don't think ICE would even look twice at me, but I am worried about my friends who are darker."

I flashed back to the day when I ignorantly overlooked her comment as aged and irrelevant. Turns out it is true now as it has been for four hundred years: the lighter your skin the easier your life. What does it say about our country that we've gone backwards? That my son, a US citizen of 17 years, has to carry his passport and US government - issued ID with him when he walks on his college campus? 

I will leave you to your own conclusions since mine are evidently short-sighted.