The Future of Writing vs AI

by Trinity Cogan

AI is a topic that most of us can’t avoid these days. It’s all over social media, our Google searches, and in our jobs in some form or fashion. In general, the discussion surrounding AI is a loaded one and still proves to be rather divisive. When it comes to the literary field, AI is a major point of conversation, mainly because of its uses in the medium. Currently, AI is being used to map out stories, edit and revise manuscripts, or in some cases completely write the manuscript. It’s no secret that AI is in some ways a useful tool, but when it is introduced into human-based creativity, things get murky.

Should AI be allowed in writing? That’s the question most authors are asking themselves these days. The way AI is being used in writing is also up for debate. Some authors argue it’s justified at the planning stage, but it shouldn’t appear in the final print form at all, while others have turned to having an AI model like ChatGPT to write their entire manuscript from top-to-bottom. In fact, there have been some authors that have been caught with AI prompts in their final prints.

I won’t call them out by name, but one Google search will send you to a few different authors that were caught by readers with these prompts. It’s insane to think that anyone calling themselves an author would have an AI model write the whole thing for them, but with the rapid increase of AI models, it’s happening.

So, it really does lead one to ask that question. For me, writing has been an outlet, a way for me to get my creative thoughts on paper and in the form of characters that I have created in a world that came from my mind. If AI comes into the mix, I don’t believe it’s truly mine anymore.

Regardless of what answer you arrive at, AI is here to stay for the rest of our lives, but we get to decide how it influences our lives. We can decide if it belongs in writing or not.