“Write Me a Blogpost about AI and Writing. Make it Really Good.” - Guest Blogpost by Tom Turner

Anyone who has ever sat down to write something “for fun” will have hit that wall. The massive, solid brick wall that sends you off into a tantrum any four year old would be proud of, fueled by the intense feeling of absolute futility in the very core of your creative brain muscles.

It’s not nice. When it happens (and it will happen) it can be soul destroying. And in this age of instant gratification and helpful tech, there’s only one solution to that, isn’t there? Of course, that’s not to battle away with your ideas, try to work around them, push through and force yourself to get writing again. No. That would take some serious gumption.

What you should do – screams your lazy caveman brain, desperate for the nearest dopamine dump available – is just ask a helpful AI friend to step in and do some of the heavy lifting. After all, what’s the difference between that and the ancient folk who decided it would be a great idea to get the oxen to pull their weight on the farm? Or are we suggesting that those automatic washing machines should be shunned in favour of the day-long slogging over a barrel of soapy water and a knuckle bruising washboard?

But there is a difference. The difference, despite how unpleasant we might find that brick wall built from the finest writer’s blocks available, is in this instance we’re not using the technology to do something menial to give us time to focus on something more fun or creative. We’re literally giving away the most rewarding bit.

Let’s be honest, if you look out there on the internet, there are many AI promoters promising that you can churn out hundreds of books a year and flog them online. There’s a passing mention of the content, and how to make it look attractive to a potential audience. But there is scant regard for anything past the initial sale of this computer generated slop of an e-book.

So, in many scenarios it’s not even a case of hitting that wall after trying to write. It’s just the latest get-rich-quick scheme. But if we step back from this, back to our original premise of someone beavering away on that book they’ve had in them for the last 15 years and they are finally trying to get it out. Why shouldn’t they get a little help from AI to get over the inevitable hurdles that writing a book throws at you? (And, yes, I realise that is a somewhat mixed metaphor – but at the same time, anyone who has been stuck halfway through writing a book will agree that it does feel more like having hurdles actually thrown at you rather than just being faced with the relative simplicity of needing to get over them). So, surely it’s OK to use AI “just a bit” or “only in x scenario”? Well… no. It’s not.

To start with the whole LLMs are built on stolen data. The trawling of thousands of published books, without permission from the authors, should not be an acceptable price to pay. And, if we are somehow able to idly sweep that accusation away, we devalue writing even more. We are actually then saying, out loud, that it has no value. That ideas and the craft of bringing those ideas to a finished manuscript, isn’t worth a penny. So, every time that you ask your little robot friend to come up with an idea to solve this literary bottle-neck that you’ve written yourself into, you’re complicit in this theft. Of course, on top of that, we’re now all aware of the massive environmental impact of these AI systems too. The staggering amounts of water they use and electricity they consume.

But, you know what, neither of those things are what really bothers me. What really hurts is something less tangible. And this is where I don’t think the “tech-bros” spouting their get-rich-quick philosophies and the “old fashioned” writers will never find any common ground. One seeing no value in the creative process, the unique ability the human brain to come up with truly original takes on what has gone before. And the others relishing the fact that it’s not easy, that it is hard work – but with that comes immense rewards and satisfaction.

There’s sadly no doubt that AI content is increasing in its prevalence and how hard it is to detect, but my artsy-farty creative core – the part of me that gets excited about word play, and who will happily bathe in the all encompassing warm feeling when a story just falls together after hours of sweat and tears – desperately hopes, and somewhere deep down believes, that this “humanness” is something that will never be replaced, and that in the sci-fi future we are hurtling towards, those hand crafted stories will be treasured and valued above generic AI slop churned out for an easy buck.

Of course, I might be wrong. And, as we’ve seen with how much people rely on their cars, or are unable to resist the lure of high-fat, high-salt ultra processed food, the temptation of the “copy and paste without checking” easy life might prove to be too much to resist for even the staunched Luddite out there.

If you want I could write this article again using fewer clunky metaphors and in an easier to digest language? It might also be a good idea to remove the em dashes so people can’t tell it’s AI generated content. Would you like me to do that? (This part is a joke.)

Tom and Jon host The Failing Writers Podcast – a podcast for real human writers who often love writing… aaaaand sometimes hate it. But Jon and Tom are there to support everyone on their writing journey, and are constantly exploring ways to get better at it. Whether that’s picking the brains of a bestselling writer, or forcing themselves out of their writing comfort zone for the amusement of their listeners – it’s all fair game in the name of being a bit less failing. You can find their podcast on all the usual podcast channels, and at www.failingwriterspodcast.com