A Positive Technologist Identity

I read an interesting post by Wojtek Powiertowski in partial response to Khürt Williams’s excellent essay against defining the indie web by its enemies, which had inspired me to write a short post here and a long-form essay on NLJ. I agree that we should advocate for good tech in terms of what makes it good instead of in terms of bad tech(to put it roughly). Here, Mr. Powiertowski tackles AI, which he explains he uses to help him work on aspects of his blog. For those who are more antagonistic toward AI, he argues that technologists should not define themselves by what they oppose or abstain from, whether that is AI or some other tech or trend. I wholeheartedly agree. While I have authored numerous critiques of AI as it is being applied and what it is doing to computer component prices, I would be loath to make what I oppose in tech my tech identity (granted I never thought of myself as a technologist or having a tech idenity, but that aside). Instead, I explain what I am for, digital homes and writing and media by people for people, which not only gives context to my critiques of AI, but also opens the door for allowing for non-offensive AI use cases (or Mr. Powitowski’s own thoughtful article, which he acknowledges at the top had LLM contributions to proofreading and editing). With that being said, in the context of running a writing or media website, I would respectfully dissent from, or at least qualify, Mr. Powiertowski’s assertion regarding AI that:

[T]he question isn’t whether to engage with [AI/LLMs]. The question is how, on your own terms, in service of your own values, building things that matter to you.

While it may be true in a cosmic sense that AI is so infused by tech that one will necessarily interact with the fruits AI in running a website, I will submit that it will always remain possible to cut it out of publishing, design, or similar.