MAKE OR BREAK

There exists a stereotype that Indians cannot cook without their masalas.

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Whether we’re whipping up pad thai or penne arrabiata, it’s hard to resist the siren call of the spice dabba proposing a pinch of kali/lal/hara mirch. The result is that no matter what uncharted cuisine you are attempting to explore, it all tastes the same.

That’s how I feel reading almost anything on the internet today.

It’s become nearly impossible to scroll through Instagram or even skim through an email without sniffing the stench of AI-speak all over it. A ‘quietly’ here, a force-fitted ‘memory’ there, an ‘intentional’ that is anything but. ChatGPT is slowly corroding every form of written expression, from the PR pitches that invade my every inbox to influencers’ restaurant reviews to, jarringly, prizewinning short stories, like ‘The Serpent in the Grove’, which won the Commonwealth prize in May before it was hauled into the court of public opinion.

Let’s set aside for the moment the devastating environmental impact, a topic that cannot be condensed into 500 words. What annoys me most isn’t the outsourcing of basic intellect to the very tool that will render those who rely so heavily on it redundant. It is the fact that ChatGPT is making the way we write—and increasingly, the way we think—boring. And there is no greater sin than being boring.