Not moaning about AI
but please google let me turn it off yeah?
(23 January 2026)
There was going to be a moan about LLMs here. I wrote it earlier this week, after giving in to pressure from Google Gemini and granting its wish to “Refine” some words I’d written. The results weren’t great, and I grumpily churned out a few hundred words with my thoughts about that.
On reflection, that’s not helpful for anyone. Gemini and other tools like it aren’t intended for me - they’re for people who find writing hard. I find it easy. Of course I’m going to be dismissive, of course I’m going to want it to stop pestering me. Some people will welcome that.
And if I was trying to do something else I’m no good at - writing code, composing music, sewing - I’d probably welcome frequent “Refine” prompts in those contexts.
So, sure, I don’t value LLM words for my own purposes, but I can see why some people might. I wish Google would let me switch it off though.
Wise words from a colleague (Oli Lovell) this week: “I don’t use AI for anything I want to remain good at.” A much more pragmatic view.
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This morning I ran a workshop with another cohort going through the open working programme by Third Sector Lab; this is a thing I do every few months and it’s always a fun session. Participants are usually a mixed bag of people from a mixed bag of organisations, mostly small charities. It’s always interesting to hear what their comms problems might be. I encourage them to articulate things that might be blockers to openness, and we spend a little time trying to find ways to unblock those things.
The Third Sector Lab team encourage participants to write weeknotes, and it’s always a joy to see a bunch of fresh new weeknoters emerging into the world.
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What else?
- Played with this cute beat generator
- This week I needed to convert a .m4a audio file into a .mp3 audio file. The tip on this page to use ffmpeg in the Terminal and run a simple command was the easiest way to do it.
- Letter from Minnesota. Related: midterm elections countdown clock
- A lovely post from a departing DPSP colleague, Abi Cox: No more big bang launches … I like this quote on test-and-learn methods:
We used a feature toggle so we could turn digital invites on for a day, then turn it off again. When it was off, CSMS went back to sending paper letters.
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Some photos I took in December and didn’t put anywhere:
giles (at) gilest.org
🗜️