SUBURBAN SYNTAX

I suppose it’s time to discuss my thoughts on AI and writing. Frankly, I didn’t want to write this post, because so much has already been said about it, but the situation is evolving so quickly, and the “signal-to-noise” ratio on social media has gotten so high, that the blog was a good place to organize my thoughts on it.

I’m Not a Fan So Far

I’ll draw a line in the sand that while I’m not a doomsayer to the extent of other writers and artists I’ve read, I remain skeptical of AI. Less the tool itself, so much as the corporations and “tech evangelists” in the ecosystem surrounding it. You can look up any number of polls, and the majority of the public is more concerned about it than excited. My trepidation is based on a few things:

• Corporate nerds and “tech bros” don’t give a damn about art. They were busy in math and business classes learning to make software and a dollar. Art is messy and inefficient by its very nature, which puts it fundamentally at odds with a machine that vomits out derivative “content” in seconds, on-demand.
• The general public currently cares about reading books written by human beings, but over time I fear that could change thanks to advertising, apathy, and low prices.
• AI could be a valuable tool for artists, but the current online climate creates a stigma of fear for anyone using it, which opens the door to the suits leveraging it to eliminate creative jobs.
• Copyright/IP theft, environmental impacts, cognitive offload and the general “slushification” of the human mind.

This Thing Isn’t Going Away

It may transform, but it’s not going away. I believe we need a more nuanced conversation about it in the creative community, and social media isn’t the right place. It feels like creatives are in “black and white thinking” mode, and you’re either against the machines, or welcoming our robot overlords. It’s creating a climate of cherry-picking witch hunts, while hard data across industries shows roughly 45% of published authors are using some form of AI tools. There needs to be more understanding and less finger-pointing amongst writers, otherwise I believe we’ll be too busy bickering to notice AI companies wiping out creative work.

There needs to be more transparency, within the context of given works. For instance, I’ll freely admit to you all that I use the WordPress AI tools. I’ve been experimenting with them for a few months. I do not use them to write my posts; however, I let them give me feedback to see if there is a way I can potentially make the posts more engaging. Sometimes the tool provides useful critique, and I’ll revise or expand on a post before I publish it.

I also use it to generate images. Most of them are terrible, some are decent. This saves me a massive amount of time searching through copyright free image libraries like I used to. I have concerns that WordPress themselves are ensuring that image tool isn’t infringing, but I’m “rolling the dice” expecting they know what they are doing as a major platform. Perhaps I’ll be proven wrong someday and all my blog images will disappear. 🙂

It’s Not a Very Good Writer. Usually.

I haven’t been impressed by any original content that I’ve prompted when playing with various AI tools. It often reads mechanical at best, with too many em dashes. At worst, it’s totally nonsensical. Where it’s more useful is grammar and line-editing. As a glorified “auto-correct”, it can shape up a draft in minutes and probably get you 90% of the way there.

Of course, it rarely takes into account intentional bending/breaking of grammar rules for artistic expression, so there is no getting out of editing your work, I’m afraid.

As we all know, writing is the “fun” part, and editing is the “necessary drudge work”. I can see the allure of AI helping to speed up that drudgery. That said, I think editors and authors should disclose the use of AI for that work without fearing torches and pitchforks. Even someone who uses AI to write their book should simply disclose it, and have it judged on its own merits. If it’s garbage, readers will figure that out quickly.

It May Become a Better Writer

Right now, it’s fairly easy to tell when something is generated by AI. It’s simply not that great. However, it’s rapidly evolving. I think writers and publishers as a community need to stop the infighting and strange moral purity tests and begin focusing on what I’ll call “the greater enemy” here. The sorts of folks who think artistic creativity isn’t a defining human trait, or worth paying money for.

We writers spend so much time deliberating over our craft, that it’s easy to think everyone else does too. In reality, the average reader and non-writing folk just want good stories. They don’t care about “the sausage being made”. Right now, AI isn’t delivering on that, but if it can someday, then my greatest fear is the general public becoming comfortable with “AI content” enough that it eschews human-created works. I believe that is when the “tech bros” and CEO’s will really pounce to eliminate creative jobs and boost their bottom line. We need to collectively be prepared for that day.

I’m curious to know, have you begun using AI in your writing workflow? If so, how comfortable are you talking to other writers and artists about it? Or are you a die-hard “no AI” artist? Let me know down in the comments. They’ll be fun to look back at a year or two from now as long as an artificial intelligence hasn’t replaced me.