Isn’t AI Just Cheating?

AI is a dominant force in all forms of marketing, customer service, and social media. It is everywhere. These days, you are lucky to get to speak to a human being unless you have gone through the disconnected, repetitive quarrel with the AI bot first.

More recently, it has contaminated the world of writers. I use the term contaminated deliberately because I feel it is a death knock to those die-hard writers who want to write from the heart. In this respect, ‘hats off’ to Medium and every other platform that says a big NO to AI writing.

In the modern era and its broadest sense, writing falls into one of three categories: purist, research-based, or AI-generated.

I asked myself the question: Does AI have a place in any of these three categories?

This is what I came up with.

Purist Writing:

What in the hell is that, you say?

To me, this is the essence of writing. It is the expression of feelings — how a story, novel, or poem makes you feel when the author lets you share their thoughts and feelings.

It is the illusion of fantasy — the dream created by words when someone lets you into their fantasy and takes you to a place you can only imagine being in. It is the love story that you wish involved you or the horror story that has you sitting on the edge of the chair, heightened by your senses of fear but captivated so much that you cannot leave.

Forgive me if I offend, but how does an algorithm machine create those feelings?

Most of them struggle even to answer the most basic questions. Consider the following example:

“Hello, I am an educated AI bot that can answer all your questions. Let’s start, what is your name?”

“Ian Rong.”

“Was that Ian Long?”

“No”

“I’m sorry, let’s try again. What is your name?’

“I — a — n R-R-o-ng.”

“Was that Ia Anrong?”

And so it goes until you get so frustrated you simply say “John Smith” and move on to the next challenge.

“How can I help you?”

“I want to talk to a human, please”

“I am sorry we don’t have a human section; please select another option.”

All AI bots, platforms, sources, or whatever you want to call them are collections of as many possible variations of prompts that the designers can collect. They are taught by humans!

They don’t just make up the answers as you go. I know because I tried to get a part-time gig for three months, training them to answer scientific questions. It was an unmitigated disaster, but that is a story for another day.

So, the answer to my question regarding purist writing is NO.

AI stores have no place in purist writing because they cannot express feelings like human beings can. As a newbie author trying to break into the competitive writing world, I find it offensive that there is now this underworld of AI stores trying to take over these sacred areas of emotional expression.

Research-based Writing:

I define research-based writing as when an author wishes to share knowledge intermingled with his or her opinions. It is a step up from reporting, where all that is transferred is a series of facts. Previous authors have expressed that to them, this is the best form of writing. I disagree.

First, you have to assemble your facts from (hopefully reputable) sources and then combine these with your own thoughts or feelings about the issue. It is the difference between a freestyle approach (purist) and a strict, anchored approach to known facts.

I have spent over 40 years in this writing sphere, working on everything from research papers, white papers, company annual reports, standard policies, and procedures to over 40 technological publications.

I can see that this form of writing might be appropriate for AI, but even then, AI is very rigid and totally dependent on how the question is framed. Yes , it can save a lot of time doing basic research.

We all use some form of AI in Google searches and have certainly come a long way from when I was at University, spending hour upon hour wading through countless journals looking for information.

The answer to my question for this writing category is MAYBE but only to find information.

AI-generated Writing

A story written by some AI bot, whether it is fictional or non-fictional, is like running in the Olympics with a belly full of drugs. It is cheating. There is no originality, there is creativity, or critical thinking, and there is no chance of any of the emotions that are associated with author-generated writing, which is the reason why people read, isn’t it?

My Conclusion

AI writing is cheating and has no place in writing.

It’s good on platforms that ban it. Let’s leave it a necessary evil that has crept into society to do marketing brainwashing or deprive people of jobs that were once occupied by human beings.

There is enough change in this brave new world that we cannot control, but let’s leave some space for good old creativity, empathy, and expression of feelings that do not come from a machine.

As always, till next time, thanks for reading,

Calvin

[Originally published on Wake Write Win. All rights reserved Calvin London 2024.]