Wednesday, October 4, 2023

Spooky Season is Coming and the Robots are Taking Over the World (#IWSG October 2023)

It's that time of year...

October Question:
The topic of AI writing has been heavily debated across the world. According to various sources, generative AI will assist writers, not replace them. What are your thoughts?

AI has already replaced writers. You know those terrible click-bait articles about recasting your favourite movie franchise, or gossip about when new video games might be coming out, or even blog articles with old trivia stories about historical figures? They're all written mostly by AI now. Websites need a constant churn of bland, vaguely interesting content, and the fastest/cheapest way to generate it is through AI software.

It will take longer to replace fiction writers, but it will happen. AI continues to get better all the time. The first thing that it will master will be formulaic genre fiction. The plots and themes are already kind of repetitive and generic; it's only a matter of time until computers figure out how to replicate writers that already crank out 50 books a year.

I stole this from the Baltimore Sun. It's very appropriate.

Ultimately, like with any new technology, the people who will succeed will be those that can adapt and learn to take advantage of AI, instead of being fearful of it. We already use AI in our writing all the time whether we realize it our not. Tools like Grammarly and spell checkers? Those are AI algorithms, scanning your work and making suggestions to make it better. I look forward to when these tools get more sophisticated, and can help you find holes in your plot, clichés in your figures of speech, and excessive exposition. Or that can help you outline, and keep you on track if you veer too much off your through plot.

Authors being afraid of AI writing is like horse ranchers being afraid of automobiles, train operators being afraid of the airplane, newspaper reporters being afraid of the internet. Changes are coming, whether you like it or not, and fighting against it is a losing battle. The industry will change, and your job may look very different in a few years. The most successful writers will be those that can adapt to an evolving world and market.

We need to learn to live side by side...

* * * 

In less controversial news, remember last month when I said that I had like two chapters left to write of Gale Harbour Book 3? Well, that turned into five chapters, and I'm still working on the epilogue. So I guess I'm kinda done, maybe? It's hard to be excited until you officially write "The End," you know? Plus there's so much revision. So much. I'm probably going to have to cut those five chapters back down to two or three, among many, many other things.

I really hoped to be done by now, but this past month, not only did we go back to school, but we're fitting my son for a scoliosis brace, and my daughter has casts on both of her feet. It's been one of those months. Maybe I could use some AI help with my writing. 😔

How is your October shaping up?

Hugs & kisses,
-CDGK

The first Wednesday of every month is officially Insecure Writer’s Support Group day. Writers post their thoughts on their blogs, talking about their doubts and the fears they have conquered. It's a chance for writers to commiserate and offer a word of encouragement to each other. Check out the group at http://www.insecurewriterssupportgroup.com/

9 comments:

Patricia JL said...

You make good points on AI. I'm sure there will be plenty who use it to churn out mediocre stuff that people won't mind reading. But for the really good stuff? It'll probably continued to be made by people as no matter how good AI gets, there's a certain creative spark that it's always going to lack. Unless it become sentient, but let's not do that as it never ends well in movies.

Alex J. Cavanaugh said...

You're almost done!
AI does already create content and more than most people realize. And there is a site that does help with those issues you mentioned. I think Elizabeth Seckman is the one who talked about it.

Natalie Aguirre said...

I don't think AI will replace writers. I can't even see it replacing writers at my job where we write 650-1300-word general info articles. I think it's a time-saving tool for some tasks, but not creative writing.

Loni Townsend said...

Woot for being kinda done. I hope to be there soon.

I think there are far less people afraid of AI as there are people affronted by AI using other people's work without their permission. That's my take anyway.

PT Dilloway said...

Most of this "AI" thing in writing is pretty stupid. It's one of those things where a couple of people have made money selling books so then you get a whole ton of people trying to do the same and it just floods the market with mediocre garbage. The fact is most people hardly made any money off writing before "AI" and churning out millions more crummy books is just going to make it worse. Really I just hope it's a fad and people realize sooner rather than later it's not going to make them millionaires and go find some other get rich quick scheme.

I think it is an affront for those of us who have spent many years writing to have to compete with "prompt engineers" typing something into an "AI." It's like if you train all your life to run the marathon and then suddenly they let any schlub use robot legs that are faster and more durable. I spent years honing my craft and you just used an easy shortcut. It doesn't seem fair but life usually isn't.

Deniz Bevan said...

Hope you got to reach the end of the story and the writing went well!

Rajani Rehana said...

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Rajani Rehana said...

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Jacqui Murray--Writer-Teacher said...

Pumpkin head is a winner

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