Worshiping the Idol of Productive Output - Etan Kerr-Finell

Today is a bit of an outlier. Normally I share something I have read each day, but today I am sharing an essay I wrote recently.Thanks for reading,Etan-- AI and Creative Work, or Worshiping the Idol of Productive Output1.In Jewish thought idol worship is primarily problematic and forbidden because it is a misnaming. It attributes credit inaccurately. There is no crocodile that controls the river. There is no god that pulls the sun. In the Jewish story, all occurrences are traced back to a single primary cause and causer and the problem of idolatry lies in the misattribution of ultimate power. I see a parallel in how creative people talk about AI. As a writer I hear it most about writing but in conversations with creative people about AI I also hear it more broadly: making music, film and visual art. Many of my peers appear to be falling into the trap of worshiping the idol of creativity. If you deem productive creativity to be an end in itself, AI poses a great problem: it stands to…