The Eagle’s Call
Back from vacation, here's a nature-inspired newsletter edition with a fun nature fact: The sound many movies use for a bald eagle's cry is actually the cry of the red-tailed hawk (Red-tailed hawk - Wikipedia). You know, the high-pitched, long and echo-y scream. Real eagles calls sound more like dolphin chatter. Bald eagle - Wikipedia
Because movies use the wrong call so much, those of us who don't live in an area with abundant bald eagles end up thinking that that's their real sound. Now, the consequences for this misunderstanding are benign, but it points to a certain danger when presented with plausible but wrong information which AI has a chance to amplify. The analogy goes like this:
I have no idea what a bald eagle sounds like because I've never heard one in the wild.
I come across a movie with the wrong eagle sound.
It sounds plausible enough. Powerful and piercing. I now think that that's what eagles sound like.
With AI:
I have no idea how to write good marketing copy because I'm not a marketing specialist.
I ask AI to write me some good marketing copy.
To me, it sounds good enough. Punchy and engaging. I now think AI makes marketers and copywriters obsolete.
Just because the AI result seems good to me doesn't mean it's actually good (unless it is meant purely for my own consumption). It takes an expert at a given craft to judge whether the result is truly good. Which reiterates the point: In the hands of an expert, AI can be a great productivity boon. In the hands of a hack, it can be a dangerous delusion.
