Are We Becoming Clones?

A few weeks ago, I read a couple of articles online, and this week a couple of posts, and I noticed something. .

They all sounded the same.

And it wasn’t hard to figure out why.

If you’ve used ChatGPT at all, you know that it has a very specific voice, vocabulary and sentence structure. It’s pretty easy to spot, and I recognized it in the articles and posts that I read.

I’ve been working on a project for a bit and recently asked ChatGPT to edit what I wrote. It re-wrote my words and completely removed my voice. I no longer sounded like me! It used words I would never use in ways I would never use them, and used phrases that, to me, felt trite and overly emotional, even patronizing to my intended audience.

It also said I didn’t need to restate my ideas in different ways, and edited for “brevity and flow”. But I LIKE to restate my ideas in different ways to reach different people and to offer nuance or add clarity to my words. It’s part of my writing style!

Needless to say, I stopped using ChatGPT to edit my work.

I WANT to sound like me!

I think we will continue to see more of what I saw in those articles and posts—people using AI to write and create so they can sound deep, educated and moving with little effort. What saddens me about this (aside from the loss of brain cells by not having to actually think) is that the uniqueness of the human voice will be lost in the process—a robot can never duplicate that.

Even crazier is that when people give in to the easy road of AI creation, they don’t realize that they are actually becoming clones, copycats. This is concerning because the creative PROCESS is where the true power of creativity lies—that process heals, transforms, releases, educates, informs, stretches, communicates and empowers. Through it we solve problems, gain self-understanding and step into the truest version of Self. And we want to skip that?!

The voice is a signature. No two are identical. The way we sound, express ourselves, our perceptions and perspectives, our original ideas, all move through this medium. With it we set boundaries, influence others, convey emotion, and communicate desires and objections. We tell stories, we preserve family history, we sing, laugh, cry, shout and sigh. It is the seat of creation, where thought, emotion, and feeling are made manifest through audible vibration. It is deeply human. To me, that’s sacred–something to be protected, valued and respected.

If we all sound the same it will only add to the climate of sameness that’s been robbing us for years of the deep need to be seen and appreciated for our individuality.  We’ve been under THAT thumb for decades, in relation to our bodies via the beauty culture, and where has it left us? Impossible standards to look like a Barbie or Ken doll living the good life have left so many people feeling anxiety, anger, dissatisfaction–desperate to reclaim a sense of worth and buck the shame caused by “never being enough”.  And we think adding our voices to the pool of homogeny will improve the problem???

Don’t get me wrong, it’s great to maximize time with the assistance of tools like AI. I’m all for a little assistance at times, but there’s a line where we can lose ourselves. And if we’re not careful, we can cut out the parts of a true life-well-lived that enlarge the human soul and give it substance, beauty and originality.

Technology is awesome and powerful. But use with caution. And while you do, try not to lose your humanness in the process. We need you and your voice, just as you are.

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