I'm no stranger to the concept of technology and automation putting skilled workers out of work. This is, in fact, something I was intimately familiar with before the age of 20.
My father was a man of many jobs, but his most consistent form of income was sign painting, lettering on commercial vehicles, pinstriping, and other painting for hot rods, etc.
He was damn good at it. Had made a name for himself ("Rotten Ron") through working at car shows, people seeing his work, word of mouth, etc. Made good money, too.
And then, in the late 80s and early 90s, vinyl cutters started becoming popular for signage and lettering on vehicles.
The result was in every way inferior; the cutters couldn't do the variety of things he could, the vinyl didn't last as long outdoors, etc.
But it was faster, cheaper, and you know the rest. Eventually he didn't get enough work and could only supplement his income with sign painting, etc. and had to work other jobs like package delivery.
One thing that stands out now, though: there was no mistaking the difference if you paid attention. If you had the slightest clue, looking at a vinyl sign vs. a painted one, it was obvious.
As someone who's written for a living (off and on) for 26 years, it's soul crushing to see the LLMs devaluing what I've worked many years to try to get good at. But what's even worse than that, and that's pretty damn bad, is the fact that it undermines the humanity of what I do and care about.
I hate the current situation where people pass off LLM-generated things as human-created work, and there's often some question. I hate it even more than human-created work is sometimes mistaken for LLM-generated things.
LLMs aren't just anti-labor; they're antithetical to trusting other humans. They undermine relationships between author and reader, and editor and author.
</rant>
