From the Horse's Mouth
Chatting with AI about AI
[This is a companion piece to my recent article, "The AI Boogeyman". I wrote portions of this article myself. The rest is a transcript of a "conversation" generated by AI.]
It seems that AI is a popular topic of discussion these days. On one hand, it generates excitement among those who embrace it and for those who do not welcome its presence, it inspires something closer to loathing. Some attitudes fall in the middle, of course, but neutral opinions seem to be in the minority.
After writing "The AI Boogeyman" and engaging in some follow-up discussion on AI in the writer's realm, I decided that I would like to hear straight from the horse's mouth, as the saying goes. After all, we humans have been discussing the benefits and drawbacks of AI. Why not let AI join the conversation?
With that in mind, I headed over to ChatGPT and asked it to weigh in on its usefulness as a tool for creative writers. Everything between the dashed lines below is the conversation between myself and ChatGPT (thus the "AI-Generated" tag).
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Me:
What are the pros and cons of using AI to assist with creative writing?
ChatGPT:
Using AI to assist with creative writing has several pros and cons. Here's an overview of both:
Pros
1. Idea Generation:
- Inspiration: AI can provide fresh ideas, prompts, and plot twists that can help overcome writer's block.
- Diverse Perspectives: It can offer new viewpoints and angles that the writer may not have considered.
2. Efficiency:
- Speed: AI can quickly generate content, allowing writers to produce more in less time.
- Editing and Proofreading: It can assist with grammar checks, style suggestions, and overall editing, making the revision process faster.
3. Consistency:
- Style and Tone: AI can maintain a consistent style and tone throughout a piece, which is particularly useful for long-form content.
4. Research Assistance:
- Fact-Checking: AI can help verify facts and provide relevant information, ensuring the accuracy of the content.
- Content Enrichment: It can add relevant details and enhance the depth of the narrative.
5. Accessibility:
- Support for Non-Native Writers: AI tools can help non-native writers with language and expression, making creative writing more accessible.
Cons
1. Creativity Limitations:
- Lack of True Creativity: AI lacks the human touch and emotional depth that comes from personal experiences and emotions.
- Repetitiveness: AI-generated content can sometimes be formulaic or repetitive.
2. Quality Concerns:
- Inconsistencies: While AI can maintain a consistent style, it might produce content that lacks coherence or logical flow in more complex narratives.
- Over-Reliance: Excessive dependence on AI might hamper a writer's own creative growth and development.
3. Ethical and Originality Issues:
- Plagiarism Risks: AI-generated content might unintentionally plagiarize existing works due to its training data.
- Authenticity: Readers might perceive AI-assisted work as less authentic or genuine compared to purely human-created content.
3. Technical Limitations:
- Context Understanding: AI sometimes struggles with understanding nuanced context, leading to inappropriate or irrelevant suggestions.
- Cultural Sensitivity: It might not always accurately reflect cultural subtleties and sensitivities.
4. Cost and Accessibility:
- Expense: High-quality AI tools can be costly, potentially limiting access for some writers.
- Learning Curve: There can be a learning curve associated with effectively using AI tools.
Conclusion
Using AI in creative writing can be highly beneficial for idea generation, efficiency, and maintaining consistency, but it also comes with challenges related to creativity, quality, and ethical concerns. Balancing AI assistance with human creativity can help writers make the most of these tools.
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That is the assessment of ChatGPT, one of the most popular AI platforms, on the pros and cons of using AI for creative writing. The cons that are identified fall mostly in line with the thoughts I expressed in "The AI Boogeyman". The pros identified by ChatGPT are a bit more sketchy, in my opinion. Some I agree with and some I feel are actually cons.
What do you think? Do you agree, or disagree, with what ChatGPT had to say about creative writers using AI to assist in their craft? If you have thoughts, please share them in the comments below.
About the Creator
Randy Baker
Poet, author, essayist.
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Comments (5)
I've expressed my concerns about the use of AI in creative writing before, so I'll just say that I agree with your assessment of the "Pros." Thanks for sharing your experience, Randy!
I'm like so tired now that I can't even identify which of the pros that it mentioned are sketchy and seem more like a con 😅😅
My thoughts and opinion on Ai are still up in the air. I have been talking to a few people and fellow writers, I found the younger generation use it, but justify it. Saying the changes it makes saves time and that the content is still theirs. I compare that to people who see something a say “I thought of that idea years ago” but they didn’t act on it or do anything, but still slighted. I do use spell check, is that similar? I do feel it has a place, but people should not take credit for something they did not create.
This is intriguing, but I am inclined to be more precise (and therefore, perhaps, stuffily conservative or anthropocentric) in terms of definitions: I do not think AI generated material constitutes creative writing at all. At this stage in the development of LLMs, it seems like more or less impressive prognostication about what a human being might write next.
This is very insightful! I have been thinking a lot about the use of AI specifically in the arts. I think that it might be a useful tool to spark inspiration from, but there's something about the use of AI for writing that just doesn't sit well with me...