Posted on by Sonia Dogra

IWSG OCTOBER – WILL AI REPLACE WRITERS?

Dear Writing Community

Hello and welcome to this month’s IWSG post. We are into the third last month of the year and it is already time to look back and see how far we’ve come. I’ve had a very slow writing year due to health issues of parents and lots of running around hospitals. But I’ve also tried to keep in touch with the community by reading their blog posts, books, keeping track of their social media updates and being present in writing groups. I tried posting every month this year for the IWSG and every alternate month for the WEP. Both, extremely fulfilling and rewarding writing activities.

If you would like to join and know more about the IWSG, please visit the website here.

There’s a recent article on the IWSG website that seems to be written just for me with the time crunch I’m facing. Maybe you’d also like to take some ideas from Make the Most of Having 15 Minutes to Write by Elizabeth S. Craig

The awesome co-hosts for the October 4 posting of the IWSG are Natalie Aguirre, Kim Lajevardi, Debs Carey, Gwen Gardner, Patricia Josephine, and Rebecca Douglass! Thank you to each one and to Alex J. Cavanaugh and his administrative team for all the work behind the scenes.

The October 4 question is, The topic of AI writing has been heavily debated across the world. According to various sources, generative AI will assist writers, not replace them. What are your thoughts?

Honestly, I am scared of AI. I’ve been watching videos and reading articles and often find myself in the ironic zone where I feel upset with writers for building up these worlds with their writing, much before they’ve actually existed.

But having said that, I am also hopeful that this is only the fear of the unknown. A natural human reaction that I’ve had several times in the past whenever I’ve encountered change. There are always two sides of every coin, and it would be foolish to expect that nothing will go wrong. Definitely, the advent of AI will pose several challenges for writers but I do think that it can be used effectively to assist rather than hinder our work.

Most importantly, I for one, am an emotionally invested writer. I often ditch rules and make my own and don’t believe in holding back my feelings when I write. As a reader too, I prefer emotionally-driven writing. I guess AI will take some time to get there, or maybe never be able to go that way. Until then, I’d like to believe that generative AI will not replace me. Not in this life!

What do you think? Let me know in the comments section below.

This month we have another prompt for the WEP, waiting for your creative additions. Please join us in the fun as we share our takes on The Phantom of the Opera. You can read the participation rules here.

Before I leave, I’d like to share a yellow picture that I clicked on my way to the hospital yesterday. The oleander (kaner) hanging delicately on a background of green was the first to get my attention. Soon enough, an autorickshaw stopped right underneath, replacing an insipid morning with a spark. That’s how the world goes on. That’s how we carry on, despite the greys that gather around us like arrows. We find a yellow oleander somewhere out there and it feels enough to help survive a day. The AI may never understand the power of a simple flower, right?

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37 Replies to “IWSG OCTOBER – WILL AI REPLACE WRITERS?”

  1. *Hugs* I totally get the struggle of lots of time spent in the hospital and caring for loved ones sapping your writing time. I hope things get better and that the 15 minute writing tool works for you. I find it handy for other tasks for me, like cleaning, editing, marketing, or quick workouts on days I can’t do a proper workout. But I have not gotten it to work for creative writing yet.

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  2. Yes, I find AI (and how it might progress in future) a bit disturbing. But I think it’s here to stay. However, I haven’t used any AI tool as yet. I like my (mostly) intuitive process. I follow just one rule (apart from Show, don’t tell when it comes to writing) ―rules that work for me).

    And that’s a lovely photo.

    I hope your parents are well now. Sending good wishes. Take care.

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  7. I posted as anonymous, but not because that was my intent. I’m having trouble logging into my WP account. Nothing new! C. Lee McKenzie

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  8. Your thought on AI are so well expressed and they are very similar to mine. 

    I understand the hospitals and the concerns about parents, so my thoughts are with you as you make your way through whatever healthcare issues you must. Seeing flowers along the way helps.

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  9. No need to be scared of AI. They will probably help us with tedious tasks, not replace all creatives. Otherwise it would really become a dystopia so many speculative fiction writers warn us about.

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  11. Hoping for the best and concerned about the worst is pretty much my position. I do believe that AI cannot replace creativity, but that doesn’t mean the money men will share my belief, or give a damn. It’s the latter that bothers me. Even as a consumer, I really don’t want to live in a world where we have nothing but formulaic tosh to read and view.

    @DebsDespatches posting today from Fiction Can Be Fun

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  13. At this point, I don’t think AI is a real threat, because it can’t write that well. But knowing how fast it learns (using the work of real human writers, a whole other issue), maybe at some point it can master at least pulp fiction? But I think you’re right about the emotional content of good writing, and AI almost by definition can’t do that. But can it learn to pretend?

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  14. It’s a question that confuses me, Sonia. Coming from an industry which constantly looks at automation technologies to make business processes simpler and fail-proof, I am in a quandary.

    I always saw writing as a deeply satisfying vocation for me as opposed to the ennui I suffered in my career. So, it baffles me that there could be a few members of the creative community who might use AI to simplify the process.
    It feels contradictory, considering what I expect out of the writing experience.
    But if AI adoption makes everyone else look smarter, won’t I look like a fool?
    I’m already among the foolish ones who quit a well-paying career to pursue writing.

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    1. I hear you, Sudeepa. I’m not baffled by the AI invasion, if I may call it so, because I don’t see writing as a profession. It is and will always be my escape from the mundane professional routine. I guess for a full-time writer there is reason to worry. Maybe we will all find our own way around this and come up with our innovative options.

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  15. Love the yellow! 
    I don’t think AI will be able to replicate the sparks of creativity that humans can. I also think we humans need to create as part of our beings. I hope nothing ever replaces that!

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  17. I’m glad you’re staying in touch with the group while you’re dealing with your parents’ health challenges. I hope they get better soon, but it sounds like their health challenges have been going on for a long time. I was with my mom a lot last year before she died and was so grateful I could be there for her.

    I hope you try AI for the basic tasks it can help with. I doubt it will replace us.

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  18. Anonymous Esther East of the Sun – I want to believe that my IT department is right – and apparently, as part of his job, he teaches computers , only as good as what they’re taught. Ditch artificial, wouldn’t work without human intelligence, no programs yet teach them to think and feel.

    Or – trying to think for me recently, understand that the word I’m writing is Halle, German town, not Hallelujah.

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  19. Hi,
    I‘m not scared of AI, but still contemplating over the effects it will have upon authors and writers and how it will change our moral ethics. For example, will the best cheater receive the Booker award, or the National Book award or the Nobel Prize for literature etc… not because they wrote their own work but because they were smart enough to have a program that could write it for them.
    I truly believe that whatever happens will create a big gap between writers, and the results will be harmful for all. 
    Shalom shalom

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    1. Will the best cheater receive the Booker award or the National Book award??? Moral ethics, I believe, are still questionable, Pat. You never know who’s doing what. It will probably become more pronounced with AI. Let us hope for the best.

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