It might seem strange that someone who writes for a living would create an AI writing tool. When you see examples of AI writing South Park shows or books on Amazon written completely by AI, it’s easy to get caught up in the frothy panic of knee-jerk dystopia. In such a frenzy, you might even conclude me traitor to my kind, aiding and abetting the algorithm that seeks to replace our precious craft.

Before you reach that conclusion, let me offer an explanation or two as to why that’s not the case. I’ll go a step further, in fact, and explain why AI, for all the problems it brings, is a good thing — not just writers, but for all artists.

Let’s be honest for a moment about what “AI” is and more importantly what it isn’t — some nefarious, cybernetic menace sent to displace the need for writers and destroy their livelihood. Don’t get me wrong, ChatGPT, Claude, and other large language models (LLMs) are incredible technologies, and no one can deny that what they are capable of doing is changing our world. But at the end of the day, they are still just algorithms drawing conclusions from huge sets of data to present to us in a form that mimics human conversation.

Notice I said “mimic.” That word is important, for it defines both the limitation of AI and the reason that human are in no immediate danger of being replaced by it. Right now, we’re dealing with narrow AI — “weak AI” as researchers call it. It can be trained on enormous datasets and draw conclusions from them, but it can’t apply reason or judgment outside the context provided. It can create photorealistic art or entire books, but not without first consuming works of human creation. Be it art or article, the generative AI’s in use right now are nothing more than fancy mimicking machines. True Artificial Intelligence, as we understand it from science fictions stories, is still a long way off.

But that doesn’t mean the narrow AI is without its uses. Many of the mundane tasks like research or grammatical question can be handed off. Chart generation for sales reports, idea organization for pitch meetings, context extraction for research papers, listing out traits for supporting characters in novel — all these task can be done with unfettered efficiency.

As Falon Fatomi writes for Forbes,

“AI has the remarkable ability to process vast amounts of data, analyze patterns, and generate insights at lightning speed. By harnessing its power, writers can optimize their time and focus on higher-value tasks.”

(Fatomi, https://www.forbes.com/sites/falonfatemi/2023/06/21/why-ai-is-not-going-to-replace-hollywood-creatives/?sh=67987abf442b)

In other words, AI is not the enemy we fear it to be. It’s a tool. And like any other tool, it can be used for good or bad.

In the “bad” column we’ll have those who seek to exploit and abuse the technology — we all know who they are. Producers seeking to avoid paying screenwriters, opportunists spamming Amazon with low-quality AI manuscripts. And so on. These types have always been with us and always will be.

Let’s focus on the good. Using AI ethically, as an enhancement for writing, and not a substitution, we can sidestep many of the pitfalls a writer faces.

Writer’s block, for example, is a common problem. And it’s not always instigated from a lack of ideas. Sometimes, the emotional fuel to write just isn’t there. AI helps with this. Sometimes, just seeing a list of ideas to choose from gets us over that first hurdle or opening paragraph.

Those who work in a writer’s room benefit from collaboration with their fellows. But what about the lone writer sitting in a closet on their laptop? Prior to ChatGPT, they had only the wall in front of them. Now, they can input their idea and get immediate feedback.

Even writer’s rooms have started to make use of AI in this way.

As comedian Yedoye Travis told Techcrunch…

“What we do in writers’ rooms is ultimately bouncing ideas around. Even if it’s not good per se, an AI can throw together a script in however many minutes, compared to a week for human writers, and then it’s easier to edit than to write.”

(Silberling, https://techcrunch.com/2023/05/03/ai-replace-tv-writers-strike/)

The mass adoption of AI into creative workflows is already underway. And if there is a risk to writer’s from AI, it’s the risk of being left behind by their fellows who adapt to the technology. I’m sure there were plenty of writers who stuck to their typewriters when computers came around. Good luck finding them, today.

As Dylan preaches, “the times, they are a’changin” — always. Right now, we’re living in the golden age of narrow AI. That is to say we have access to the amazing power of artificial intelligence without the moral dilemmas artificial general intelligence or sentience will bring. We can access these incredibly potent tools that will make us more efficient and open new frontiers in the fields of science, medicine, engineering, and countless others.

And yes, we can improve our writing skills by adapting to the changes, instead of fearing them.

It’s not all figured out. Our governments have work to do in catching up to AI technology with laws and regulations that will protect artists whose work is used to “train” these algorithms and ensure fair compensation and protection of copyright. It’s a bit of the Wild West right now, but one thing is for certain — the technology is here, and it’s here to stay.

Now is the time to start using it, in a fair and ethical fashion. Remember the goal of an AI is to make our lives easier and our work more productive. Don’t fear the tool — master it and make it a part of your craft.

That T-800 in your nightmares is still a few years away.