> The operator of the tool tells it what to do The fact that you can now tell a tool what to do illustrates my point. You can’t “tell” your paintbrush what to

> The operator of the tool tells it what to do The fact that you can now tell a tool what to do illustrates my point. You can’t “tell” your paintbrush what to do, and what your paintbrush does is wholly based on your personal ability. If you use your paintbrush to create counterfeit currency, there is no question as to whether or not you deeply participated in the creation of the output. Prior to the introduction of generative AI features in photoshop, you couldn’t “tell” photoshop what to do either. There is myriad of deep and fundamental differences between manipulating these earlier generations of tools directly and verbally instructing a black box to execute its algorithms. I think this difference is similar to the difference that would exist if we could build Star Trek style replicators and if we were comparing the act of preparing a meal from scratch vs. asking the replicator to print a meal. Is the replicator a tool? Yes, but a tool for which the mental models associated with a kitchen full of cooking and baking implements do not apply.