I'll Be Saying No to Setapp's New AI Subscription Tiers
Though I concede AI can sometimes be helpful for language learning
All words and pictures human made: no AI input. If this article has slipped behind the paywall before you were able to read it, click here to read for free (Medium Friend link).
The Mac-only subscription service, Setapp, has a new subscription structure.
It launches on February 28th, 2024, and will offer two tiers: AI Enthusiast, with 100 credits, and AI Expert, with 200 credits. For reference, 10 credits get you about 18 messages with GPT-3.5 Turbo, or 6 messages with GPT-4. Credits reset each billing cycle. Pricing structure yet to be announced.
Now, the announcement email from Setapp began like this:
We agree with everyone: GenAI tools give humans superpowers.
The first part grated on me because I don’t like being thrown into a bucket with the AI acolytes, but even if the last part is true, there are some superpowers I’m happy to leave alone!
Artificial Intelligence. According the Dictionary app on my phone, the word ‘artificial’ means, in part, something made or produced by human beings rather than occurring naturally. Oh, the irony!
We need to more closely define what “made or produced by human beings” actually means.
If a human makes a machine that can make things independently of its creator, the thing that the latter makes cannot, in my mind, be classed as having been made by humans.
Joanna Holman recently said (and Tony Stubblebine boosted) the following on Mastodon the other day, and I wholeheartedly agree. She's talking about entertainment content, but the same principles also apply to other (not all) uses of AI.
AI created entertainment content feels like the tech version of meal replacement shakes. Sure both are technically going to achieve something, providing you with some vitamins and protein from the shakes, distraction and entertainment from the AI content.
Both might have some small legitimate uses in the context of a well rounded individual life and society. But made a major part of our lives they are both soulless, highly artificial impersonations of the creativity, care and culture making that’s part of what makes us human and which makes living in community with other humans worthwhile.
So, yes, I am opinionated on this topic. I generally don’t trust AI as far as I wish I could throw it, but I do have to concede that it’s useful in some situations.
AI for language learning is both awesome and horrifying
Take MurmurType, for instance. It’s an excellent AI-powered translation utility, and a limited version will be available at the regular subscription price. Nice move, Setapp! MurmurType comes with 15 credits.
As a student of the French language who regularly exchanges audio messages with a language partner, this is the best utility I’ve found for transcribing rapid-fire audio that I could never have understood on my own. I’ve also used it to decipher the foreign language content of videos. Anything you can play through your computer’s speakers can be transcribed and translated with MurmurType.
But be warned: Chat GPT can be a bit of a disaster for checking your work.
Yesterday I wrote a response to a French toot, in French. I asked Chat GPT (the regular version, nothing to do with any particular app) whether I got it right, and it congratulated me that yes, indeed I had. It then explained in detail what I’d done correctly, and strongly implied I should be proud of myself.
Nice!
Except that when I asked my (living, breathing) language partner to check the sentence, she said No, we don’t say it like that. The sentence doesn’t work at all in French.
Talk about a faux ami ! I should have known better. Use AI with caution, no matter how well credentialed it comes.
How to visit the best Mac App Playground in the world, free for a month
Give Setapp a go for free for 30 days instead of the usual 7 with this link, and enter the code ELLANE. If you sign up I’ll get a small commission, and you’ll have access to a truly impressive (and growing) playground of Mac and iOS apps. I’m a happily paid Setapp subscriber. I refuse to recommend anything I (as a miser) don’t use and love.
Links for further reading on my experiences with Setapp: