So, with the rise of the machines and AI infiltrating everything from art to writing, we now need to consider what in the hell we’re going to do about it? Let me start by saying I don’t hate AI as a concept. In fact, I have found some interesting uses for ChatGPT and if apps like Midjourney weren’t outright stealing from artists, I’d totally use them to make concept art for things like my D&D campaign where there’s no way in hell I could commission an artist to do art of the random locations in my head. I’d still hire a cover designer, though. Because that’s about more than just the art itself.
I am, however, putting the cart before the horse a little. AI is emerging, and we can’t stuff the genie back in the bottle as much as we might wish we could. And the idea of AI-generated books has a lot of folks’ feathers ruffled. Regardless of the whole stealing from other sources aspect of things (which can be a problem), the idea that an AI could write a book right now is just laughable. Having spent some time playing with ChatGPT, I can say that it can barely hold it together for a short story. And even then, it has issues. So we aren’t in danger of this replacing humans anytime soon for things like storytelling. And if you think you can have ChatGPT write your novel for you and that you’re going to be rich on it, well… you’ll get what you deserve.
Editors aren’t threatened by it either. While AI might be able to do some things, ChatGPT isn’t any better at editing than Grammarly is. In fact, it’s worse. And while it certainly sounds certain when it makes mistakes, that doesn’t mean what it says is right. That, and it can’t make creative calls like a human can. It might be able to do essentially what other tools like macros, PerfectIt and SmartEdit do over time, but those tools don’t replace the need for a human to look at it. What those tools do accomplish, however, is more efficient use of editorial time. Rather than trying to force my brain to see every quotation mark that’s straight instead of curly, I can automate that and focus on things like word choice, syntax, flow, poetry, clarity, and the rest. The things that are the meat and potatoes of what I do.
So what do I use ChatGPT for? Well, I’ll tell you what, it gave me some helpful ideas for Amazon ad text for my books after I fed it my back cover text. I don’t have the means to hire a high end copywriter to write my marketing copy for me, so it didn’t take another human’s job. But it did help me have a solid starting point for me to shape my Amazon ads text. It also might help writers with their back cover text because indie authors know what kind of misery that is. Will it solve all our problems? No. You still need to learn about that stuff, but this can give you a bit of a leg up to start brainstorming some other ideas. It also might be great for giving you writing prompts or story ideas to help you break through blocks.
AI is here to stay. I am hopeful that we will be able to create laws that protect works from being used to train AI without consent and also make people label certain things as being AI-created. There are also tells if you know what you’re looking for, and over time people will become more and more able to identify these things as we start seeing them and understanding what we’re looking at.
At the point we are now, it’s frightening and new. And we don’t do frightening and new well as a species. And anything that shakes up the status quo and either removes or changes certain jobs that have previously existed stresses us out. Like the shift away from fossil fuels frightening people for whom that is their livelihood. That doesn’t make the change all bad. I think AI automation will allow us to have some more and different freedoms for creativity that we may not have had before, and I don’t think it will end up replacing humans anytime soon, if ever.
What does need to happen is laws need to catch up to technology and ensure that the things AI is used for aren’t going to be things that cause harm to artists and creators. Which is something that will take time to overcome. But we’ll get there.
