Isn’t AI Putting You Out of Business?
“How hasn’t AI killed your editing business?” That’s the #1 FAQ people ask me at conferences we sponsor. It beats all runners-up: “Do you write as well as edit?” “Do you publish?” “Do you help promote what you publish?” “Did you actually graduate from Hillsdale College?” (Answers: Yes. Yes. Yes. Yes; did you think I flunked out or got kicked out?
The AI death knell question used to bug me. Here you pay all this money to sponsor an event, and the folks you hoped to pitch just stop to gawk at what they see as your horse-drawn carriage. “Too bad those newfangled combustion engine thingies will soon put you out of business, eh, Mark?” (It’s Mike.)
One day I realized I had it wrong. Most people aren’t rooting for AI to replace human-intelligent writing or editing. They’re rooting for the humans. They’re surprised—and relieved—to stumble across a whole team of human wordsmiths, apparently doing well enough to sponsor events. And they’re hoping against all hope that the reason we’re still in business is not that AI just hasn’t caught us yet, but because we do something with words and thoughts that only humans can.
Their hope is well placed. Although AI can work wonders with words, two years of Good Comma Editing’s experimentation with multiple large language models (LLMs) has confirmed and focused our human-intelligent value proposition—not eroded it.
For example, LLMs are impressive at summarizing tediously long manuscripts, identifying redundancies for potential reduction, and suggesting tune-ups to document organization.
But there are at least three things required for making important thoughts clear, correct, and concise that LLMs cannot actually do:
Create. (This takes a soul, not a script.)
Think. (This takes a mind, not a processor.)
Choose. (This takes a will, not a command.)
Only humans can do these things, because we’re made in God’s image. LLMs can merely mimic these functions, because AI is made in man’s image.
Sometimes, imitation creativity — imitation thought — imitation choice — is good enough for what it’s for. It depends on what you’re expressing, and for whom, and how important they are.
We’re here to help leaders express what matters most. We plan to be here a while. —MTH