This Ain’t AI

Photo: Adobe stock

Dec 5, 2024

I can’t lie to you – this endless talk about AI has me somewhat spooked. Clearly if the banter about robots replacing editors is accurate, I will soon be hard at work preparing my resume and applying for a government job or driving Uber.

But this publication is written by people rather than algorithms, and in my view it must be. Yes, I imagine a clever system of looking at past and current publication, then distilling it into a story about something straightforward, like baking an apple pie could be very successful. But the whole thing about boating is so complicated and individual. Boats and equipment are ubiquitous and their uniqueness is what attracts us. The online descriptions vary from lobster boats to hydroplanes to cruising catamarans. Does even a computer understand the difference?

Plus, a lot of the thrill is experiential – yes, the thoughts and feelings of the many, many writers on the internet could be abstracted, but would that insightfully cover a personal experience of a summer day on a lake in New Brunswick or off an island in BC?

Time and progress may yet prove us obsolete, but in the meantime every article, note, caption and even this editorial message is being written by a Canadian human. We humans are committed to your boating involvement. We hope to understand and reflect it and interact with you about it.

Lastly, it’s just so lazy. Click a couple of buttons and you pop out the story. If that means all the people who serve our publisher and our publications are consigned to the outbasket, I will be pretty disappointed.  And as my daughter, who is herself creator, notes regarding the prospect of publishers using AI scribes, “If they can’t be bothered to write it, why would you be bothered to read it.”

John Morris, Online Editor