I’ve been on the fence about openly talking about A.I. at length because I wasn’t really sure where I stood. I mean, I didn’t like that people were writing books over the course of a weekend with A.I. Came off as a bad sign as the future of art made by actual humans. Still, I heard people saying using it for editing was helpful. Well, I think I’ve finally figured a few things out for myself.
First, I do understand how A.I. can be a useful tool in terms of editing. Seems like it can tell you if something doesn’t feel natural or whatever. Almost like getting the opinion of another human, but it still lacks the nuance and finesse that comes with having an organic brain. I’m sure it can make sure you have spelling consistency and won’t repeat words too often. On the other hand, I can’t be certain it won’t have a hemorrhage with fantasy names like spellchecker does. You would still have to plug in enough information there for the A.I. to come up with something close to your dreams. I would hope, but I guess a person can just put in ‘Write a fantasy story about a farmer becoming a great wizard’ and then publish what comes out.
That’s my worry on this whole A.I. thing, especially when I read about companies training their programs on books. There was a big kerfuffle over one A.I. and I found out that a few of my Windemere books were fed to this thing. I really don’t like that because it means versions of what I wrote can be puked out into another story, but I wouldn’t have any clue or way to stop it. An A.I. can’t really make anything original because it can only work with what it’s already been given. That means, the same stories, characters, twists, and everything will be around. Readers get on a human author’s back for coming off as something else, so A.I. won’t do any better.
Yet, I have a bad feeling people won’t care. Having a book written by A.I. is going to be a novelty, which will be used to overshadow repeated plots or lackluster writing. I haven’t read any A.I. stuff, but I can’t imagine it would have the true emotion that a human can push into their writing. Something will be lacking unless these programs are designed to emulate emotions to realistic levels. Feeding them enough information could do that, but I don’t know how truly effective a sad scene will be from something that has never known sorrow. ‘Write what you know’ would go out the window as far as emotional scenes are concerned.
Another aspect that I think about is how there will still be human authors, but there won’t be many. I feel like those will be the ones who are already at the top and those who know others. Indie authors are barely a thing now, but A.I. could wipe them out, which means not many new faces. That is extreme, but I can see there being less at the very least. Why would publishers who are in it for money want to bother with a human author when they can grab an A.I. and crank something out? There is a sense of artistic integrity, but I can’t always be certain that’s a universal interest.
Honestly, I kind of dancing around my biggest fear: The removal of human expression and history. I think art is one the oldest and most essential aspects of humanity. Our species were making cave paintings to depict events, but they were still art. It feels like all artistic mediums began as a way to pass on knowledge and history to new generations. If A.I. takes art away then we are going to lose something. Humans need art whether they realize it or not. If they aren’t creating it, they’re indulging or utilizing it in some way. The clothes we wear, the homes we live in, and everything else in our lives have some artistic aesthetic. Why have A.I. take that from our species?
As I said, I know it can be a useful tool, which is fine. Yet, I can also see how those who are more interested in money would uses it crank out art with no soul. Remember years ago when you have authors putting out 99 cent books every few days with no editing and hastily made covers? The ones who saw the indie author boom and decided to make some quick cash then vanish. I feel A.I. books will be worse because you can’t shame a program into going away. Those behind it aren’t going to be the types to look at comments or care as long as they get their money and possible series/movie deal. Am I being pessimistic? Probably. I just have trouble thinking it’s a good thing that A.I. is being used more for art, research (critical thinking skills), and everything other than the mundane things you simply have to do to survive. As the image says, I want A.I. to do my laundry or clean my bathroom instead of writing my books.
