AI has been all the rage for the past couple of months. No one outside of the upper echelons of the technology industry could have known that this concept, which used to be science fiction, would become a reality so soon. It has already been used for wildly different things, ranging from US presidents playing Minecraft to compiling entire research papers.
Alright, we’re not talking of Skynet level AI, but “simple” chatbots; nevertheless, Chat GPT’s abilities are truly stunning.
And scary.
This poses many questions.
What are the implications of this new technology? How far will it go? Can we stop it? And the question which sits at everyone’s minds:
Will Chat GPT steal my job?
Will it replace me?
I doubt anyone can answer this layered question; there are too many variables and unknowns. So let’s narrow it down a little.
Will Chat GPT replace (creative) writers?
Right now? No. Chat GPT is powerful, but still has a long way to go. The sentences it spits out are grammatically correct and logically consistent (most of the time), but generic and bland. You can easily tell it wasn’t written by a human.
But, let’s take the future into consideration, as the tool is constantly evolving and will be more advanced as the years pass.
Will it then be able to put people like me out of business?
I don’t think so.
To explain why I think this, we have to examine the act of writing itself; what it is, and more importantly, what it isn’t.
Writing isn’t just putting words on the page and coming up with clever metaphors. It’s not a sterile tool only used for presenting information.
It’s much more than that.
Writing is about experience. Whenever I sit down to write, and I imagine fellow writers will agree, I am not aiming to fill a word quota and SEO standards for some deadline. I am giving a piece of myself in every paragraph which comes together to form a unique, human outlook on a particular topic or issue. Emotion and care are weaved into the sentences so that you, the reader, may feel, rather than just read.
It’s almost like a conversation.
A chatbot, or even a true AI (if it’s even feasible) can’t replace the vast expanse of the human experience which includes horrifying lows, but also unearthly highs, both of which are instrumental to the writing craft. The writer draws from these sources, delving deep into memories and wounds which are maybe best left untouched; every word comes from the deep marks of life etched into his soul. Every word is a piece of him.
This goes doubly for creative writing. You’re telling me some chatbot will be able to match the vivid prose of Tolkien, the subtle poignancy of Yourcenar or the harrowing inner conflicts of Selimović? That it will supersede these authors that have harnessed all that life has given them, both the good and bad, to offer us a glimpse into their psyche, but also into the universal questions of life?
I’m not convinced.
The modern age where everything is analyzed, measured and put through studies won’t let anything escape; even art is treated like a spreadsheet with numbers. Only in this age and with this mindset could someone think that an AI could replace humans in a specifically unmeasurable and subjective line of work.
This reminds me of the movie Dead Poets Society which strikes a good blow to this sterile approach to art. A particularly passionate English teacher commands his students to rip out a page from their workbooks which says the greatness and impact of poetry can be measured on an x-y axis, like a mathematical equation.
“We’re not laying pipe, we’re talking about poetry.”
We’re facing the same predicament now, except we can’t rip out Chat GPT from the internet. It’s here to stay.
But so are writers. Not only them, but all creative fields; painters, musicians, movie directors etc.
Chat GPT will mean many things for the present and the future, but it will never be able to replicate the human experience, no matter how advanced it’s algorithm is.
It will only increase our dependency on technology, something which has contributed greatly to loneliness, depression and isolation of the 21st century.
People crave human connection.
And human writing.
Even if Chat GPT reaches a level of proficiency similar to a human, its work will never be considered true art.
It will remain a tool.
But you won’t; you’re a human being, worthy of expression and love.
Never forget that.
Stay inspired.
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