I Went Fishing, And Now I Am Going To Tell You About It

If you were born in the 1950’s and came of age in the 60’s and 70’s, and if you got to watch television now and then or were taken to a movie, you became very aware that there were predictions out there that robots and the archaic computers of the time would some day destroy all humans on earth.

They would eventually come to hate us for whatever reason and want us gone.

I have lots of images stored away in my head from those TV shows and movies to prove my point, but the names fade. War of the Worlds is the first that comes to mind and I’m sure I can find many more, but best to let sleeping dogs lie rather than go traipsing down an apocalyptic memory lane.

On top of that we had the real world drama of the U.S. and Russian governments wanting to blow each other up with nuclear weapons for who knows what reason. At a very early age we were all very aware of the destruction nuclear devices could cause.

During the Korean War my dad wound up wandering around Japan for 2 years. His job was to monitor and maintain the communications equipment necessary to fight that war. While in Japan he took trips to Nagasaki and Hiroshima to see the damage that nuclear weapons caused. Somewhere are a few photo’s he took, but I’ll be damned if I can find them.

In 1963 when I was 7years old, I remember asking my dad why all of my friends that went to Chicago Public Schools did the duck and cover routine required in case a nuclear weapon was dropped on us, but nobody in the Catholic schools participated in the drill.

My dad said… what difference does it make if you’re sitting at your desk or under your desk when you’re vaporized.

Even at that young age his comment made complete sense and I assumed the Catholic Church thought the same.

Slowly flash forward for decades and more TV shows and more movies drive home the point again and again how computers, artificial intelligence at this point, and robots want us all dead. A quick short list that comes to mind are I, Robot, Robocop, The Matrix and Terminator, but I’m sure there are many more.

And now Elon Musk is warning us that artificial intelligence is out to destroy us as soon as this year if it’s not curbed immediately. Or something along those lines.

So, you ask, what the hell does any of this have to do with fishing?

Well, because of my lifelong fascination with being destroyed by computers and robots, I’ve always had Open AI and other AI related things rattling around in the back of my head. Toward the end of 2022 I started hearing about ChatGPT, an AI chatbot developed by Open AI, but I couldn’t build up the interest to go looking into it. Why would I? I like getting what little sleep I get at night so why would I look into something that may adversely effect that little bit of sleep.

Then in March of this year I saw some writing samples produced by ChatGPT based on relatively simple questions it was asked. The writing was nothing stellar, but probably 80% better than what the average human being could produce if an average human being bothered to sit down and write something.

I decided to give ChatGPT a try to see if it could get it to write an article about creek fishing.

I asked ChatGPT this:

Write a creek fishing report like Ken Gortowski would.

I got the following as a response. Those that know me will see the obvious errors. Most would never know the difference.
___________

Alrighty then, let me tell you about the creek fishing report for today!

I hit the creek early this morning, just as the sun was starting to peek over the horizon. The air was crisp and cool, and there was a light mist hanging over the water.

I started out using a small crankbait, working it along the bottom of the creek where I knew the fish liked to hang out. It wasn’t long before I felt a tug on the line, and I knew I had something on the hook.

After a good fight, I landed a beautiful smallmouth bass that was about 15 inches long. It was a great start to the day, and I was feeling pretty good about my chances.

For the next couple of hours, I worked my way upstream, trying out different lures and techniques to see what would work best. I caught a few more smallmouth bass, as well as a couple of nice rainbow trout.

As the sun started to get higher in the sky, I switched over to using a topwater lure. I figured the fish might be more active on the surface now that the sun was up.

Sure enough, it wasn’t long before I had a nice-sized largemouth bass explode on my lure. It was an exciting moment, as I watched the fish jump out of the water and try to shake the hook.

After a good fight, I was able to land the bass and snap a quick photo before releasing it back into the creek.

All in all, it was a great day on the creek. The fish were biting, the weather was perfect, and I got to spend a few hours enjoying the beauty of nature. Can’t ask for much more than that!
__________

The end result is kind of interesting. I’m assuming it somehow scoured the internet to look for old fishing reports of mine that it could tap into for examples. (Keep that comment in mind, another try a couple weeks later and ChatGPT denied it could do this).

Let me tear this apart a little to find what it might have got right or kind of right.

I hit the creek early this morning, just as the sun was starting to peek over the horizon.

Once upon a time I used to do just that, but it’s been over 15 years since I’ve done this. Back then I had a job more or less and kids to play with and since I sleep like crap and wake up every day at 4 AM it made sense to wander out the door and go fishing so I was available for the other things the rest of the day. For the past 15 years if I got out fishing, it was for the last 3 hours of the day. Simply a much better time to be out.

I started out using a small crankbait, working it along the bottom of the creek where I knew the fish liked to hang out.

They got the bottom of the creek part right, but I’m pretty sure I’ve never even owned a crankbait let alone tying one on and using it. I’m sure their little AI brain told them that is is what creek anglers do and they went with that.

I worked my way upstream, trying out different lures and techniques to see what would work best.

I never wade creeks upstream unless I’m forced to by circumstance. Creeks are relatively small and access points can be difficult. If I have no choice but to wade upstream, I will. Otherwise it’s always wading downstream. I also don’t try out different lures and techniques, I already know what’s going to work best.

I caught a few more smallmouth bass, as well as a couple of nice rainbow trout.

Catching smallies are a given, but rainbow trout? There’s a chance that ChatGPT found some things I’ve written about the Apple River, where there is a chance to catch rainbow trout and I’ve done it. But the chances of catching rainbow trout in any Illinois running water is pretty much zero except for the few streams where the IDNR pollutes the streams with stocked trout.

…I switched over to using a topwater lure.

On flowing water, that would never happen while I’m out fishing.

After that, it’s a halfway decent end to the article. Nothing too exciting, but I think the average reader would be sitting there nodding in agreement at that point.

So, what’s the point of all this.

I think the point is that if we let AI take over the world they would kill every last human being and when they were done, they would then go after non human creatures and wipe them off the face of the earth too. All within the next year or two.

But for me, I have a very simple way of solving problems. In this case, AI is on computers. Computers need electricity. Cut the electricity to the computers. No more AI. Problem solved. Over the years I’ve taught myself how to live without electricity. I’ll be fine.

Sigh, that’s not the point I was thinking of. What’s the point of AI and ChatGPT when it comes to writing about fishing. What are its ramifications for the industry.

Well that’s also a pretty simple answer. 90% of writers who currently write fishing articles for magazines, blogs, forums or wherever these things show up will be out of work. I’ve read enough articles over the years in all of the Illinois and Midwest fishing mags to know this for a fact.

I’ll bet I can make ChatGPT do even better. I’m sure if I fine tune it a little I can link all of a magazines advertisers to the types of lures that are mentioned in the article. Most of the 90% of writers already do this in their writing. That’s part of the writing contract, mention the advertisers. Now it would be even easier. In the write up I had done I have a feeling I can tell ChatGPT to mention one of the magazine advertisers that sells crankbaits when I used that word. Same for when I said other lures and techniques. ChatGPT would seamlessly mention the other advertisers and the lures they offer.

What ChatGPT did for me is easily better than anything I can find in these local fishing outlets. I already went and looked. I randomly clicked on articles and perused through them. I’m now even more convinced I can have ChatGPT produce better written articles. Sorry if that’s insulting to the current writers of those articles, but that’s just the way it is. Your days are numbered. If money can be saved by letting some intern feed questions into ChatGPT and produce a better written article, why wouldn’t a business do it to save some money. The average reader would never notice the difference.

So, what about the other 10% of writers.

Well, most of them will never make any more money writing than they already do, if they make anything at all off their writing in the first place. AI and ChatGPT will never be able to even come close to putting down words the same way. Normal human writers will have to continue writing what they write because they have no choice. That’s how they think. That’s how they see the world. They have no choice but to continue to write down their observations as eloquently as possible. They’re driven.

And just like I used to hear from readers back when I used to write considerably more, they’ll get the same old responses they always have…

…nobody wants to read that flowery shit.