Of course, I’m biased. I believe writing actually trains your brain to analyze and comprehend information. And from what I see from many high school and college kids today, I’m aghast at this giant hole in their education. Basically, the problem is that young people are not avid readers. Someone who reads widely will be more intelligent than someone who doesn’t. And unless you’re steeped in language and structure, you won’t absorb how to replicate it. Plus, I just feel sorry for people who don’t read! It opens the world!
There are some good reasons why some people can’t, but I suspect this deficit has more to do with the fact that they’d rather be scrolling on their phones or playing video games. I always say if my kids were teens today, I’d be one of those mean moms who makes them use a flip phone. And although I loved video games myself, I would limit their use. I didn’t work that hard just to raise a zombie.
There’s a sense among the users that because LLMs work faster than they do, and even have subject-verb agreement, they’re a better way to do things.
Sometimes faster is better. Printing facilitated a lot of schlock compared to manuscripts, but it also opened new worlds. Manuscripts provided a similar leap compared to memorizing and reciting the one or two works deemed worthy.
But. _But_ the crucial element is that the time saved goes toward new worlds (in whatever form).
If ChatGPT is opening new worlds, its users are being awfully modest about it.