Writing—and my lack of it (of late).
A frustrated rant by a frustrated author.
To start off, no, I didn’t use AI to make that em-dash in the title. Authors and writers do (in fact) use those in the craft of writing, m’kay? This isn’t some new thing invented by a computer to “fool” you into thinking a human wrote it. This is my problem with the writing community of today. Everyone is jumping down the throats of each other the minute anything is “supposedly” considered artificial in their eyes. A full-on witch hunt to purge the impure from the artistic elite! Please… let it go.
We all knew these days were coming. Don’t act all high and mighty just because you wrote a book. Yes, it’s terrible that there are those abusing it for monetary reasons only, with no skill or brainpower of their own to actually produce a story. But who’s to say they didn’t? What if they did come up with the idea, but lacked the know-how to put it to paper—or to computer text, if we’re getting current here? AI is just another shortcut that we, as humans, have always opted for in our daily lives.
Why should they be scolded for doing it like that? Ghostwriters have been in the shadows for years, doing the exact same thing—only paid to do so. Ah! There’s the thing: because it’s free, right? If they paid the AI to finish the story, maybe that would make it better, huh? Pay it to complete the work, just like ghostwriters. No? Hm. Fickle bunch you all are.
You say the AI plagiarizes, stealing from other stories – a databank full of online content that pulls bits and pieces out from those works. Interesting… and a valid point. But who put them on there in the first place? Librarians, authors, scholars—those who wrote and catalogued it, digitally stored for readers to upload. Well, shouldn’t we be pointing the finger at them too? After all, they chose to place it there of their own free will. Why should we not admonish those foolish people just as much?
Technology is a wonderful thing. It gives us joy and ease – but it is also our greatest Achilles’ heel. We love to embrace it, but soon turn to fear as it starts to work too well, and then… we end up hating the thing and screaming about the evils it brought soon after. Humanity, ugh! We’re never happy, are we? There’s always something to stick in our craw and be miserable about.
So what’s my point, you say? Only that whenever a new form of tech is used in writing, art, or daily life, we go bonkers. Don’t think so? What about the printing press? When it came out, the artisans complained about endless forgeries being made of their work, machine copies that would steal the very essence of their craft. Handwritten works that would be freely multiplied without their consent. All true, as we know.
But that’s why we created laws and rights – to protect those things. It takes time, but every step forward in technology brings new challenges. Don’t like AI taking your stuff? Then go tell the lawmakers. Give them your concerns. Enlighten them on the matter. You can’t blame other people for using the technology—not when it was given so freely. Blame those that dared to create it in the first place. They dreamed it up, put in the time and money to build it, but just because it came to being… doesn’t mean they should have used it.
Greed. That’s all it was. Pure greed. That’s what fueled it. That’s what made everyone want it. That’s why the technology is out there. Now artists, writers, and low-level entry jobs are feeling the impact of it. Just like when the printing press came. Or the photographers with cameras that could take an image better than a painter could visualize. Or a computer, able to reproduce art, words, calculations—with just a mere command of code into its operating system.
So, why the title then? Writing—and my lack of it.
Well, I’ve been depressed of late. With all this going on in our little circle of “professional writers” (indie, self, and mainstream), I’ve become overly self-conscious and rather intimidated by the judgmental zealots who feel they must speak for all, even though nobody asked them to do so. The world has grown darker, spiteful, cruel, and unwilling to compromise.
As authors, I think we’ve lost sight of what we should be focusing on—the actual writing and sharing of our stories. We informed and enlightened readers through our fiction, our tragedies, humor, and sense of adventure. Optimism is in desperate need of a comeback. I miss those days. I think we should return to it. Forget harping on the AI, prove to yourself that you know how to write better than it. Or figure out a way to use it more like a tool, a guide to shape your story better. Maybe you could go back to writing by hand, in cursive, in long form… just like the good ol’ days, yes?
Anyway, that’s just my thought on the matter. I’m just one voice in a vast sea of others, looking to find acceptance and readership in this topsy-turvy world.
Here endeth the rant.