OPE! Mixtape #71: Writing about AI (yikes)
Read the original writing about AI newsletter post.
Welcome to OPE!, the newsletter by writer and music journalist Brady Gerber (me). This essay, originally published in my weekly newsletter, is free for all subscribers. Paying subscribers also gain access to an exclusive content. All typos are intentional.
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I’m back from vacation. What a wonderful time off.
When I got back, I did a clean-up of my website, if you care to gander: https://bradygerber.com/
And before I get to this week’s mixtape, I wanted to shout out the new Blake Mills & Pino Palladino album, which was announced this morning. I was honored to be asked to write the bio for this (excellent) new album. Can’t wait for y’all to hear it.
Lead single is out now:
https://www.youtube-nocookie.com/embed/f6s5JavYgE0?rel=0&autoplay=0&showinfo=0&enablejsapi=0
Anyway.
This Week: The Elements of Artificial Intelligence
It’s true.
I wrote a thing.
Many of you already know this, but I do technical and UX writing when I’m not working on fiction or music writing. This explains why you may notice a decent amount of tech-related links in my weekly link round-ups.
As much as I like to make fun of AI superusers (which I continue to do so in this week’s link roundup), I do a lot of experimenting and writing on AI, mostly these days with Claude (way better than ChatGPT) and Cursor (a dream if you already have basic coding skills). (Shout-out to friend of the newsletter Sam for encouraging me to get out of my OpenAI hole and give Claude a shot.) And recently, before I went on vacation, I had a conversation with a fellow writer-who-got-into-coding-at-the-best-time-until-it-became-the-worst-time-but-now-who-knows-what-time-it-is, and the idea came up of trying to write something that could be like The Elements of Style (great books, no notes, all the haters are losers) but for using AI. I liked the idea because selfishly, I wanted an excuse to figure out how to better use, and write about, AI, since that’s increasingly what I’m being paid to do with my freelance work. Plus, I think a guide like The Elements of Style but for AI would be actually helpful. By this point, there are plenty of evergreen truths that we can fall back on even as AI evolves at a rapid pace.
I wrote a similar guide for ChatGPT a few years ago, and I got the itch to write another one.
After vacation, I decided … well, why not write it?
So I did.
Since this is inspired by The Elements of Style, I’m naturally calling it The Elements of Artificial Intelligence.
Am I the first person to write a guide like this? Absolutely not. I won’t be the last, either. Still, the first full draft is finished, and I’m quite happy with it.
I plan on adding new sections each week on my website, and I’ll briefly let y’all know the main takeaways each week.
Don’t worry: This is not turning into a weekly tech bro dispatch.
The first part, now live on my website, includes a Foreword, Introduction, and Section I: Elementary Rules of AI Usage.
Some quick takeaways:
- AI is wonderful, and it sucks.
- Don’t lie about your AI usage. You’re probably not good at it.
- “Plausible” is not “factual.” (This is trickier than you think.)
- Even if you don’t know what you want yet, it’s helpful to know and convey what you don’t want. (Aka follow the White Stripes rule; set constraints, and make a little room.)
- Be a fucking person.
- You—not the AI—will get blamed for using AI irresponsibly.
Enjoy.
But enough about all that. Here are this week’s best links and songs …
MY FAVORITE LINKS OF THE WEEK / WHAT CAUGHT MY ATTENTION
- Be part of history
- On July 31, ASAN is hosting a webinar reviewing IDEA, 504, and ADA, which should be quite interesting
- Stop killing games and the industry response (this is by now old news to anyone who follows the gaming industry, but for everyone else, this is news worth tracking)
- Related to the above link: Xbox’s Game Pass was, indeed, too good to be true (this is a developing story and apparently more news broke this morning as I’m about to send this, so stay tuned)
- You’re not addicted to content, you’re starving for information
- The 2025 Polaris Music Prize shortlist is out
- Remember when we literally used to send kids through the mail?
- Just in case you didn’t know, Google can now read your WhatsApp messages
- Well hello, NASA+
- Writing code was never the bottleneck (or, article #7,634 on why it’s weird we’re pumping billions of dollars into AI technology addressing something that was never the ~main~ issue)
- Related to the above link: Rob Koch, with some tough love, summed all this up in only a handful of paragraphs
- ChatGPT, a phisher’s paradise
- Slouching towards sensemaking
- Credit cards explained with bananas (related: Goose explains why you’re always tired)
THIS WEEK’S MIXTAPE / WHAT I’M LISTENING TO
- Pino Balladino + Blake Mills – “Taka” / Yes, I’m biased because I wrote the bio, but this song hits
- Good Flying Birds – “Eric’s Eyes” / Even though I’m legally obligated to include any Indiana bands in OPE!, Good Flying Birds actually rules.
- Geese – “Taxes” / Geeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeessssssseeeeeeeeeeee
- Jay Som – “Float” / She’s back! I missed solo Jay Som. Fun song.
- Elle Coves – “Peace” / If every Taylor Swift ripoff sounded this good, I wouldn’t mind Swifties as much
- DEBBY FRIDAY – “Bet On Me” / Post-hyperpop, glitchpop, whatever it’s called, good stuff
- Restraining Order – “Know Not” / Please add this to the next Tony Hawk Pro Skater soundtrack
- Deftones – “my mind is a mountain” / I wish I cared more
And that’s it. See you next time.
With love and all the other good things,
-b
Original OPE! logo by Claire Kuang. Words and cartoons by yours truly. My views don’t reflect my clients or the publications and brands I work with. All typos are intentional.