🧵 Thursday Thread | We Need To Talk About AI
No, really, we do. As writers, creators, humans, we really, really do.
I suppose this conversation on AI us belated—I admit I’ve been really, really distracted.
The election.
The world on fire and so many people hurting and people I love and many who I don’t know but love anyway whose lives are under threat.
Me losing my the University job I’ve held for 15 years thanks to Trump’s gutting of federal research funding.
Jon’s persistent and worsening inability to breathe, complete with ER trips and now, finally, better care at Mayo.
My son’s wedding (the day after tomorrow!).
Me getting an agent for my book project based on Writing in the Dark (happy, happy, happy, oh my gosh you all are the best!).
There’s more, but also, this is all kind of plenty. So, I admit I have mostly unplugged from the news and kept my head down just to get through what I have to get through.
But.
The AI thing is getting really weird and really scary—for everyone, as far as I can tell, but for writers and creators acutely.
A couple of weeks ago,
came back from the Independent Book Publishers of America conference and wrote about AI, saying, AI Will Change, It Already Is. Among other things, Brooke said two things that really caught my attention:2. If you’re not already interacting with AI and starting to become an expert in how to use it, you’re going to be left behind.
3. AI is infiltrating everything, including in the most unwanted places, like submission assessment and writers’ writing.
Last week, George Saunders talked about it, linking to a frightening interview in the NYT—here’s just one relevant quote:
“We predict that A.I.s will continue to improve to the point where they’re fully autonomous agents that are better than humans at everything by the end of 2027 or so,” Mr. Kokotajlo said in a recent interview.
Then this week, writer
of Everything is Amazing shared a truly chilling—and friends, I don’t trend toward hyperbole, but this was chilling tome—series of screenshots showing a conversation she had with ChatGPT. The premise was, Amanda was asking for help selecting links of her work for a pitch to an agent. What unfolds—well, you simply have to read it for yourself. It won’t take you long, maybe five minutes or so, but in order to get to the chillingness, you do need to read to the end. It is going to make you squirm.Spoiler alert: did you know ChatGPT can … lie?
And lie? And lie? And lie?
It made my blood run cold.
You can find the whole thing here:
So, can we all talk about this together?
I want to be clear: I have my opinions, and they’re not favorable to AI. But I am not here to judge. I am here to listen, consider, learn, and grow. I am here to be a part of an unfolding conversation. I am here to discover.
Also: The verdict on AI and the environment is clear and unequivocal—it’s bad, very bad. So, since that is asked and answered, yet it’s steamrolling ahead anyway, what I’m most interested in is exploring the ethics from other angles. But if you have environmental thoughts to add, by all means do!
Otherwise, some questions on my mind—and fee free to ask and answer/speculate on your own:
Do you use AI for your writing or other purposes? If so, how? If not, do you plan to, and why or why not?
If you use AI, what are your results compared to writing yourself? Good, bad, neutral?
Do you have any fears about the unfolding of AI? If so, what are they?
Have your thoughts about AI changed over the last year or more? If so, how?
Do we as artists have a responsibility to reject tools that exploit other artists?
If we continue feeding our creative work into systems that cannot love, bleed, or remember, are we accelerating a future in which those capacities are no longer culturally valued?
What happens to truth in art when machines can mimic trauma, intimacy, and insight without ever having lived them?
Is it ethical to teach machines to write using the work of writers who never agreed for their work to be used, and are not paid for that use?
If publishers prioritize speed and volume over depth and originality, are we witnessing the quiet extinction of the contemplative, slow-burning creative process?
I’m so curious to hear your thoughts. This is a very important conversation, and it’s going to become more and more important very quickly in the days ahead.
Also, let’s be kind to each other. That’s a big part of what makes Writing in the Dark special—we can talk about hard things without creating hard feelings, because we respect each other and show care for one another as humans first.
Love,
Jeannine
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