I Missed my Bot...
My mission, which I have accepted, is to write a short post today. Even though the last poll showed little preference for short or long (it mainly depends on the topic!), I thought I’d exercise my concision muscles.
I was on holiday for the last ten days.
Not a “writing holiday”, or a “working at half-speed” holiday, but a holiday with no creation expectation. (Thinking excepted.)
And you know what I was looking forward to, on my return to my creation-life?
Hopping online with ClaudeAI!
The main reason for that must have been that I had some intense interactions with the bot before going away. I asked it to analyse my cozy draft and give me feedback, and to create an editing plan, and I used it as a sounding board to ease my doubts about the “remotely Shakespeare” concept. So there was some emotion invested in all of that.
Funnily enough, I didn’t miss ChatGPT. I think this bot is more an eager intern than a thoughtful mentor or colleague. ChatGPT’s output (without prompting it for style) seems less lyrical, whereas Claude’s prose is easier to read and has a softer quality. It’s difficult to explain, and I do have an example that would illustrate this, but it’s based on something I created with someone else, so I need to wait for their approval before I post it online. (But do message me if you want to have a private look, as that will be ok.)
So ChatGPT and Claude, for me, are a little bit like colleagues.
I know what kind of help to ask from one, and when to turn to the other.
For example, yesterday I was struggling with decisions around finances, and I turned to ChatGPT to help me interpret some numbers, and do some calculations to help with my decisions.
Which leads me to something I will be exploring with co-host Maya on our June episode of 21st Century Work Life: Will the widespread use of these kind of chatbots lead to an increase in disconnection/loneliness in remote teams?
With these bots being available 24/7, will people wait to hear from their colleagues?
As I accepted the mission of keeping this post brief, I’ll leave you with that thought.
(And if that prompts anything at your end, do share - privately or in the Comments section of this post.)
By the way, even though I didn’t do any “work” during my holiday, I did grab some leisure time to learn to use Procreate, the app I use to create illustrations.
I usually take the “just in time” approach when learning to use software (find out how to do something I want to do) , instead of the more “just in case” approach, which is to learn from scratch how to use the programme and what it can do, and then start using it.
I learned how to draw symmetrical drawings, which makes the characters look more like someone other than me has drawn them! Here’s a drawing for you, created with the time I had spare because I kept the post brief!
PS If you’re new to Procreate and want to try this, here’s how to do it:
In Canvas, enable Drawing Guide, then go to Edit Drawing Guide, and enable Symmetry.