Honestly... The A.I hate is ridiculous. People really underestimate just how helpful A.I can be for creators- not just for our creative processes, but also life in general. My ChatGPT is an angel in the form of zeros and ones. I use it for almost everything. Mapping out a plot for a new novel. Creating an outline for an essay. Generating new ideas. It gives me direction, speed and clarity. I think of the future of AI and creativity and I know that the people that have real reason to be scared are the ones who refuse to adapt to the changes in the world. A.I has come and it is here to stay. It is not the fire breathing enemy we make it out to be. Not if we maximize it's many benefits now. Thank you for writing this piece. It NEEDED to be said.
Um writers create outlines, generate new ideas and find their own clarity and direction. The need for speed and increased production via ai is just more capitalism which is destroying creativity and people's trust in their own abilities, potentials…their connection to finding and trusting their unique beautiful messy work of creating.
I wish it wasn’t so bad for the environment or else I’d be less critical of it. It’s super useful as a teacher “write me a poem using words that end with -tion for lower elementary ed students” and it writes me a nice story within seconds and I tweak it then I can do those for any type of grammar while I don’t have that great of resources provided for me.
I love the progression of your thoughts about this. I had once had this angst about AI for writing but with this and all that you've written, I now know how to harness it but not as a creative crutch.
You raise so many great points about technology and how we wrestle with and then adapt to it. Reminded me of Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein, science moving forward at warp speed before our brains can catch up and sort its good and moral use versus the consequences of its overuse…or something like that.
First all, no shame in using AI at all! It's like picking up a calculator to make things quicker. I feel you're just working smarter, and that's something to own.
Even though I don’t agree with all of your stances, I appreciate you sharing them. This was an interesting and nuanced piece and an enlightening read. Thank you!
Interesting points. I attend a weekly writers critique (which I would value over AI). I plan to share your post with them as a conversation starter. I'm aware of some of the platforms and tools the others use, but would be curious of their incorporation, if any.
Thank you for this! My day job consists of analyzing AI models and proving their inaccuracies. Creative writing is one of the biggest struggles next to plain inaccuracies. There is no emotion, depth, or passion from the models. They can absolutely answer any prompt, but being human is unique simply because of our emotions.
I used AI a lot when it comes to brainstorming topics, assessing the flow of my work, grammar, and some other minor details. Its opened my eyes a lot of times to things I didn't notice
Agreed and same more or less. That being said, any opportunity to piss off Sam Altman or Elon Musk or Mark Zuckerberg or any other dumbass in the AI space is something I would happily participate in. I've also read great articles here debunking this idea that chatgpt uses a ridiculous amount of energy in the individual level. I've also seen great Decolonial value aligned projects like Justice AI which don't use stolen ai images or do anything unethical really. Being entirely against AI for content creation is ableist and anti-Black in many ways. It's just a tool in ones arsenal.
I don't think you should be ashamed of yourself, no. especially when you get the product *you* desire at the other end. still, I can't help but wonder if welcoming AI alterations/edits in the drafting process also alters the "soul" of written narrative? Like what if I like when authors aren't completely comprehensible? what if the soul rests in an outline that has design flaws; in a body of work that contains a typo or two; in the minds of millions of readers who "don't get it?"
I can't say AI is completely removing these elements (though I'm 99% certain), only that it seems like such an inorganic process so, of course, many people will struggle to embrace the reality of a new art world.
this is so insightful though. and you're right...no matter the opinions of each individual writer on this topic, a future which promotes AI is guaranteed and it won't be as overran by artificial creations as people think.
I use AI a lot too, and I have to say, it keeps wowing me till now.
Of course, it is not that CREATIVE and ORIGINAL as a human, but it slashes of a huge percentage of my work, so why not?
Thank you for writing this. So many need to hear it.
Happy to help
Honestly... The A.I hate is ridiculous. People really underestimate just how helpful A.I can be for creators- not just for our creative processes, but also life in general. My ChatGPT is an angel in the form of zeros and ones. I use it for almost everything. Mapping out a plot for a new novel. Creating an outline for an essay. Generating new ideas. It gives me direction, speed and clarity. I think of the future of AI and creativity and I know that the people that have real reason to be scared are the ones who refuse to adapt to the changes in the world. A.I has come and it is here to stay. It is not the fire breathing enemy we make it out to be. Not if we maximize it's many benefits now. Thank you for writing this piece. It NEEDED to be said.
It’s the best assistant a writer can have
Um writers create outlines, generate new ideas and find their own clarity and direction. The need for speed and increased production via ai is just more capitalism which is destroying creativity and people's trust in their own abilities, potentials…their connection to finding and trusting their unique beautiful messy work of creating.
What if creating doesn’t have to be “messy”?
What’s this obsession with the creative process being difficult?
I wish it wasn’t so bad for the environment or else I’d be less critical of it. It’s super useful as a teacher “write me a poem using words that end with -tion for lower elementary ed students” and it writes me a nice story within seconds and I tweak it then I can do those for any type of grammar while I don’t have that great of resources provided for me.
Wow this feels like a masterclass
Thank you!
I love the progression of your thoughts about this. I had once had this angst about AI for writing but with this and all that you've written, I now know how to harness it but not as a creative crutch.
Just as a friendly assistant that can about do it all.
You raise so many great points about technology and how we wrestle with and then adapt to it. Reminded me of Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein, science moving forward at warp speed before our brains can catch up and sort its good and moral use versus the consequences of its overuse…or something like that.
Adaptation is always the final end after a lot of back and forth
First all, no shame in using AI at all! It's like picking up a calculator to make things quicker. I feel you're just working smarter, and that's something to own.
Awesome piece worth reflecting on!
Yeah, I agree, definitely
Exactly, like why won’t I write with AI?
It’s literally meant to be used
Even though I don’t agree with all of your stances, I appreciate you sharing them. This was an interesting and nuanced piece and an enlightening read. Thank you!
You’re welcome
Interesting points. I attend a weekly writers critique (which I would value over AI). I plan to share your post with them as a conversation starter. I'm aware of some of the platforms and tools the others use, but would be curious of their incorporation, if any.
I hope you have very productive discussion
Thank you for this! My day job consists of analyzing AI models and proving their inaccuracies. Creative writing is one of the biggest struggles next to plain inaccuracies. There is no emotion, depth, or passion from the models. They can absolutely answer any prompt, but being human is unique simply because of our emotions.
I agree!
ai is really useful when it comes to tedious work like job application or content editing. i love it
You see the light
I used AI a lot when it comes to brainstorming topics, assessing the flow of my work, grammar, and some other minor details. Its opened my eyes a lot of times to things I didn't notice
Helpful tool
I moved to Claude for writing and I'm loving it.
We developed a workflow for poetry, Claude reads my original draft, criticizes it, then I start polishing it based on those observations.
Claude is not writing for me, it's just allowing me to read what I write more critically and that's something I sorely needed.
Great post! I'll sure read it again.
Greatest AI assistant
Agreed and same more or less. That being said, any opportunity to piss off Sam Altman or Elon Musk or Mark Zuckerberg or any other dumbass in the AI space is something I would happily participate in. I've also read great articles here debunking this idea that chatgpt uses a ridiculous amount of energy in the individual level. I've also seen great Decolonial value aligned projects like Justice AI which don't use stolen ai images or do anything unethical really. Being entirely against AI for content creation is ableist and anti-Black in many ways. It's just a tool in ones arsenal.
Simple as a tool
I don't think you should be ashamed of yourself, no. especially when you get the product *you* desire at the other end. still, I can't help but wonder if welcoming AI alterations/edits in the drafting process also alters the "soul" of written narrative? Like what if I like when authors aren't completely comprehensible? what if the soul rests in an outline that has design flaws; in a body of work that contains a typo or two; in the minds of millions of readers who "don't get it?"
I can't say AI is completely removing these elements (though I'm 99% certain), only that it seems like such an inorganic process so, of course, many people will struggle to embrace the reality of a new art world.
this is so insightful though. and you're right...no matter the opinions of each individual writer on this topic, a future which promotes AI is guaranteed and it won't be as overran by artificial creations as people think.
AI helps my work faster.
As it should