I don’t use AI for my writing. Period. Nothing. No Sudowrite, no ChatGPT for suggestions, nothing. But lately I’ve been wondering if that will always be the case. I wonder how much my vaunted organic purity is because ChatGPT hadn’t been released when I wrote my first book, and only recently released when I was finishing my second.
Sometimes I feel like maybe I’m the only one left, standing in the street gape-mouthed, buggy whip in hand, watching a Model T creak and puff by me on the muddy street. Sometimes I get a creepy feeling like I’m standing with my palms against the barn doors, pressing as hard as I can, and all the horses are behind me, chewing their cuds, big eyes staring at me, a struggling idiot.
Because it’s everywhere now. And there’s no consensus as to what constitutes good or bad faith in the process. Sure, the Writer’s Guild got their contract. And there’s outrage on the Reddits. At the same time, as reported by the NY Times via BookBub, a survey of 1200 writers revealed that roughly 30% of those writers were using AI in some capacity. And of those 30%, almost all of them were keeping quiet about it. So those purity tests they ask when you’re querying, “did you use AI in generating this work?” Thirty percent are lying. Maybe more.
The breakdown of the BookBub survey is interesting. I’ll summarize it by restating my previous remark that there seems to be no consensus. But looking at the survey breakdown, my knee-jerk suspicion is that the use of AI is only going to grow within the writing community. The Luddites lose, the buggy whip makers stand gape mouthed staring, the monastic scribes learn typesetting. Technology grinds like an ocean. The falconer loses the falcon. The center cannot hold. What then shall we do?
I guess all I can say is, for now, I’m not using AI in my writing. That’s my personal choice, and in that decision I see a future where I become Don Quixote. Given the miserable state of reading in general in the US, and the ever-constricting publishing industry, I’m not as quick to jump down the throats of those that use AI as I used to be. For the author, I can see how things have turned into a “by any means necessary” sort of situation, publishing wise.
But I have this nagging feeling that I have to fight for the ghost in the machine. I don’t believe much in the metaphysical, but sure, let’s go ahead and call that random accumulation of molecules and experiences that make up a human being “spirit.” It’s as good a shorthand as any. And I like to believe it’s something only carbon-based life forms can have, and the experience is best described by the organic output of those that experience it. Not the “brain in a jar” (if it is a brain) model that is AI. But I always have to keep my ear to the track. Anyone that lives near the train tracks of an artistic life better know when they’re about to get run down by a technological locomotive. We have to survive.
I just got done watching a video on the various AI tools used for writing. (I won’t link it, because I don’t want to increase the video’s viewership. They’re all over YouTube, anyway.) Let me tell you, I could feel the devil tugging on my shirtsleeve the whole time I was watching that video. Because the AI tools are good. Entire plot lines, suggestions, turns, dialogue, pacing, characters, voice, all at the touch of a finger. And they were decent plot lines, too, good suggestions, adequate voicings. If I get stuck in the middle of my next novel, will I turn to Sudowrite, Claude, or ChatGPT? I can’t honestly say I won’t. The best I can do is be honest and upfront. And the honest and upfront is that again, no AI in my writing. Not using it.
Oh wait, yes I am. In my marketing. The dirty work. Not art—commerce. That’s different. It’s a goddam jungle, and everyone’s hunting for eyeballs and attention spans. So, in this regard I’ll do what I have to. Maybe once I’m closer to the top of the slush pile I’ll be able to pull the claws, hire someone else to take care of the bloody mess. But for now it’s just me, and getting my book out there has become one of those “by any means necessary” situations. So don’t judge. How much money do you have to hire a marketing team? Me? None. So I’ll be looking for the best bang for my buck in this regard. And that’s honesty, like I promised.