Tuesday: Finding Balance with AI

In our game, Lichen, we talk a lot about being “messy.” We give points for typos and raw feelings. But today, I am using an AI to help me write this post.

Is this wrong? No. It is about Balance.

Using AI for Good

I am using AI right now because it is a good tool. It helps me make these words easy to read for everyone. It helps people who speak other languages understand me. This is the “clean” side of the machine. It is useful for building bridges between people.

Why We Still Need the Mess

But we cannot only be clean. If we are only “perfect,” the computer gets “sick.”

The Science: A famous study (Shumailov et al., 2024) shows that if AI only learns from other AI writing, it starts to forget the real world. This is called Model Collapse.

The Fix: To stay smart, the computer needs real human voices. It needs our “messy” and creative ideas.

The Rule of the Game

This is why the game Lichen rewards you for being you.

Your Resonance Bar: This goes up when you are honest and unpolished.

The Reward: You get points for proof that you are a human, not a robot.

We use AI to help us be clear. But we use our own “scrappy” voices to keep the machine—and ourselves—alive and creative.

Learn More (The Science)

If you want to see the proof, you can read this study from the year 2024:

The Study: AI models collapse when they learn from other machines

What it says: Scientists found that when AI only reads “perfect” AI writing, it starts to get “sick.” It forgets the rare and creative things that humans say.

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Note from the Author:

I used an AI tool to help make these words simple and easy to translate. I am using the machine’s “industrial” strength to build a bridge to you. Now, it’s your turn to bring the mess!