With the fast-paced development in GenAI tech industries, many AI writing tools have emerged, such as CopyAI, JasperAI, etc. These tools are incredibly simple to use. Just share your idea in writing, click the “Generate” button, and an article or story will be created in just a few seconds. This development and rise in AI writing tools has led to many discussions about the future of writers, with some fearing that AI will completely replace writers’s jobs. But, is it really the case?
As a person who always uses a significant portion of spare time in reading, reading is not only an entertaining habit, but more like creating a path to discover the magical mental world of different writers. I like reading novels, especially mystery fiction/detective novels. For example, “Murder on the Orient Express, And Then There Were None, and The A.B.C. Murders” by Agatha Christie, the “Queen of Crime”, my favorite female writer. I also read many Japanese mystery fiction, such as “The Devotion of Suspect X, Malice” by Keigo Higashino, I read his novel series for years and always drowned in it.
However, as many AI writing tools can write articles, and narratives by simply sharing an idea on the website, there are waves of concerns about the future of human creativity and literature. People started to become concerned and feared that GenAI would completely revolutionize the literature industry and take away most writers’ jobs. But, is it really like that? Should writers feel desperate and threatened by GenAI? My answer is NO! When I read the crime/detective novels from Agatha, one thing can’t get away from my mind is how she wrote such amazing detective novels and crime scenes in the early 20th century, a time that writers could only write with pen and paper. How can she create these twisted ideas with her ability to keep readers guessing until the very last page? The answer to these concerns lies in her creativity, intuition, and deep understanding of human psychology, which are the characteristics no GenAI can replace and the reason why literature can be so powerful. “The time spent imagining the repercussions of that thought and rendering ideas in the particular language it needed was more valuable to me, as a human than the quick production of formulaic work.”, quoted writer Anita Felicelli, who also has similar opinions like me towards the trend of GenAI and its impact to literature (Felicelli, 2023).
To sum up, while these GenAI tools can serve as valuable writing assistant tools, in my opinion, they will never replace writers and completely revolutionize literature. Instead of feeling threatened by GenAI, writers should perceive them as tools to improve their writing procedure.
What are your opinions? 🙂
Reference
Felicelli, A. (2023, December 31). Writers, don’t despair — AI robots can’t replicate our imaginations – Los Angeles Times. Los Angeles Times. https://www.latimes.com/opinion/story/2023-12-31/ai-books-writers-literature-robots-novels-lawsuits
