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Monday, July 3, 2023

To AI or not to AI? An open book blog post


Welcome to Open Book Blog Hop. You can find us every Monday talking about the writing life. I hope you'll check out all the posts: you'll find the links at the bottom of this post.

Have you played with AI in your writing? Tell us what you think about it. 
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As much as I enjoy reading stories about AI, I haven't really had much interest in trying it out in my writing life in the real world. I've got a process that's working for me right now, and it doesn't involve using AI. 

For starters, in these early days, the ethics are unclear. Is this really just a form of plagiarism? Can people really take credit for work co-written this way? Is it just another way exploitative method of undercutting and devaluing writing and art

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Obviously technology evolves and it changes the way art is produced. I'm not against that. I'm grateful to be typing this blogpost on my laptop rather than turning over my longhand notes to a literal typesetter who lays it out in trays and presses copies. I enjoy eBooks and audiobooks and am happy about some of the ways new technologies increase access. 

But, something about AI tools in writing, at least so far, stinks of exploitation and laziness. 

When ChatGPT was all everyone was talking about earlier this year, several well-respected magazine were deluged with submissions that had been AI-created

More people looking for a shortcut and thinking they can make some moolah without investing any effort, let alone a slice of their soul. (I haven't read anything about this actually working for anyone so far, by the way--a story written by AI, copied and pasted and submitted has yet to find fame or fortune in a news-making way). 

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I do have a couple of writing friends who say they find it helpful in the brainstorming phases of things, that they use it to get unstuck. I can see that. I can respect using a tool in support of your creativity, but in place of it?

But I don't have anyone in my writing life using it in the place of their creative impetus. But then again, I don't hang with a mercenary literary crowd. While we'd all love to make money from our work, we do the work because we love it and it expresses an essential part of our selves. Why would you hand the best part over to a computer mind? 

So, yeah, I'll stick to reading about AI and talking to the one in my kitchen. 

Some stories about AI I've enjoyed recently: 


How about you? Any AI in your real life? Any AI you've loved in fiction? I'd love to hear about it in the comments. 

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4 comments:

  1. Like anything, it can be as good (or bad) as the person driving it. There needs to be a way of pulling the plug on those who see it only as a means to profit or control.

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  2. we, as writers, aren't very good at 'policing' other writers - and we shouldn't be.

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  3. I just gave AI a whirl with my book blurb. My July IWSG post has the results.
    I'd rather robots were used to make sure every human had the best food, shelter, clothing, healthcare, water, and safe transport. To let humans explore creative and philosophical activities.

    July 4 is Alice in Wonderland Day, a commemoration of when the story was first told to the Liddell sisters by Lewis Carroll in 1862.

    J Lenni Dorner (he/him 👨🏽 or 🧑🏽 they/them) ~ Speculative Fiction &Reference Author, OperationAwesome6 Debut Author Interviewer, and Co-host of the #AtoZchallenge

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  4. I've heard writers say it helps with blurb and synopsis writing. I haven't tried it yet as, like you, I'm leery of how ethical it's training has been. Until I know more about that, I'm holding off.

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