Travel Blog

I read a lot of articles about AI but only articles written by writers, as its employment by members of my tribe is what interests as well as disturbs me. I understand why, at universities, students are thrilled with the technology (at least the non-English majors). And in the professional world, it’s clear why people who find writing difficult are also embracing it.

Writers find writing difficult; Thomas Mann said, “A writer is someone for whom writing is more difficult than it is for other people.” But we take great satisfaction in capturing a thought, or a feeling, or a moment in words; we feel like a pitcher who hits all the corners with his impressive arsenal of pitches. The writers I’ve read on AI all praise its capabilities, and say they use it for things like planning, even critiquing (which apparently includes a great deal of flattery), but not for writing. The ones who use it for writing are probably not writing about it.

Though in a recent article, one writer admitted that he had been having trouble, in another piece, with his ending. After he came up with one, he asked ChatGPT for some other endings, a few of which, the writer confessed, were better than his own. But to use them, it seems to me, would have been the same as plagiarism, which is one of the cardinal sins of writing. I have never been tempted to plagiarize – for ethical as well as egotistical reasons. Why use someone else’s words when I can come up with better ones? Will my thinking change with ChatGPT? I doubt it. Even if its writing is superior to mine – it won’t be mine. And the primary pleasure of writing – giving meaningful expression to personal experience – will disappear.