With the rise of AI programs, many writers are questioning how this will impact their profession. Will AI work against them, taking valuable jobs away and write content better suited for mass consumption, or will it work for them, aiding in research, grammar, and content creation? The answer likely lies somewhere in between.
In the grand scheme of things, artificial intelligence is still in an infant stage of development. It's hard to wrap our minds around the sheer power these tools will have in ten, twenty, or thirty years, considering the skills and abilities said tools currently possess. When it comes to the writing space, AI has already shown us that it can provide articulate reports on just about anything we give it. Here is an example:
“AI will profoundly impact writers by revolutionizing the writing process and transforming the industry. With advanced natural language processing and machine learning algorithms, AI can assist in generating content, improving grammar and style, and offering creative suggestions. It can automate mundane tasks like proofreading and research, allowing writers to focus on more complex aspects of their work. AI-powered tools also provide access to vast amounts of information and data, enhancing the research process. While concerns about AI replacing human creativity exist, it is more likely that AI will augment writers' capabilities, enabling them to produce higher-quality content more efficiently and potentially opening up new creative possibilities.”
Above is a paragraph written by Open AI’s Chat GPT almost instantly. The prompt given was “explain in 100 words or less how AI will impact writers. The biggest mistake I can find is that it gave me 106 words. Writers, by nature, are creative people. Especially when it comes to unbiased writing most often used for business, we are often told to remove personal flair from the piece and rely solely on facts. AI will do this better than we do. The sheer amount of information AI has access to in a matter of seconds, coupled with its objective approach to writing, will be a valuable tool for companies producing non-fiction articles. In addition to content creation, AI has the ability to detect mistakes in our writing, such as spelling, grammar, and format. I believe that this will quickly become a great tool for writers in the editing process.
AI can also be used as a cure for writer's block. I am currently working on my debut novel, a story about the origins of pirates. Like all authors at one point or another, I found myself struggling with a connecting scene in the earlier stages of my novel. I decided to give Chat GPT a shot, requesting that it provide me with a short story pertaining to a specific circumstance in my novel. Chat GPT delivered. The story itself was juvenile and quite frankly lacked a well-developed plot, but it did give me what I was looking for. It gave me inspiration. I ended up using absolutely nothing provided by the AI engine, but it pointed me in the right direction, and I was able to finish my rough draft of the scene within two hours.
The concern that AI will replace writers is valid, but I do not see it becoming a reality anytime soon. Humans possess what AI does not: the ability to connect on a personal level. AI lacks the same level of life experience and memories that we have. Aside from lacking personal perspective, people simply do not have the same interest in reading documents written by AI. While it may be a novelty at the moment, eventually the thrill will wear off, and everything will start to sound the same. Even scientific articles have a certain creativity to them that AI lacks. If we think about what makes a good writer, the story itself is typically not the first thing we list. Kurt Vonnegut is legendary for his ability to take awful circumstances and write about them in a way that is both humorous and thought-provoking. Stephen King writes characters that are flawed, often evil, yet still elicit empathy. Being a writer is not just about what you write, but instead how you use your own voice to create worlds beyond imagination. AI has not yet shown itself capable of doing this in the same way humans can.
Aside from the points above, people appreciate and enjoy things more when they know that someone put blood, sweat, and tears into whatever they are consuming. We enjoy homemade meals over fast food, a beautiful painting over an accidental photo, and a well-written book over an AI-generated story. It's all about human connection, seeing something not just for its surface value but also for all the time and energy put in behind the scenes. We appreciate people for their craft.
Long term, I do believe AI will impact writers in many ways, but not in the ways we might think. I don't think it will take jobs away, but instead allow people to perfect their craft. If we decide to work with AI now, we can continue to develop it in ways that will benefit our written works, providing us with edits we may have missed otherwise, inspiration for our next tale, and new thoughts right at our fingertips.