AI Isn’t the Problem. Losing My Voice Is.

After last week, it would be very easy to assume that I’m anti-AI.

I’m not.

If anything, I’m going to benefit from it more than most people.

I want it everywhere.

I just don’t think we understand what we’re doing when we put it in places it’s nowhere near ready for.

And AAC is one of those places.

Most of the time, AI solves a speed problem.

And AAC isn’t just a speed problem.

I’m the first to say that I want faster communication.

But this is not how we accomplish that.

Not yet.

AAC isn’t always about getting words out faster.

It’s about having the autonomy to say whatever we want, however we want, whenever we want, to whoever we want.

And that’s not the same thing as speed.

And when you introduce something that can generate what to say for you, you’re not just speeding things up.

You’re changing who’s in control.

I’ve spent most of my life and career fighting exactly this problem.

In life. With communication. Everything.

And now the one place I was confident we’d conquered is going in a direction even I’m not ready for.

And that fucking terrifies me.

I think AI is fantastic. The gaps between me and the rest of society are going to shrink rapidly.

I can now write an essay in a couple of hours instead of days or weeks.

That massively expands what’s possible for me. Even this newsletter would have become a source of anxiety and stress just a few years ago.

I’ve got more than enough failed blogs and projects to prove that.

But now, three weeks in, I’m already ahead. I’ve got pieces scheduled, so I can take a week off to play in the State Titles without stressing myself out.

Before AI, I could have done that… if I worked all day, every day, for a month beforehand. And ignored my increasing need to rest (thanks, CP).

I know what it can do.

I’m just not sure it’s ready to be inside my voice yet.

And this is where it stops being theoretical.

Because I can already feel the shift happening.