The first time I encountered Artificial Intelligence, I experimented with it by prompting ChatGPT to create a 1500-word story of a young girl who was bored at home and decided to go out on a personal adventure to discover her world.
In less than a minute, the AI-generated story was sitting on my computer screen, complete with some key building blocks of short story writing.
It looked exciting, but the story lacked some other elements such as dialogue, flashback and suspense, as well as a convincing resolution.
So I prompted ChatGPT again to create additional output to bring the story to an appreciable conclusion.
Disappointment
Then I sat back and read the AI short story and to my utmost surprise, I felt sad, disappointed and miserable.
I asked myself, “So who wrote this story?”
Clearly, I didn’t write it, even if I prompted AI to write it based on my ideas.
The phrases were not mine; neither were the sentences and paragraphs.
That was the reason for my disillusionment, because I, a writer, had caused a story to be produced using AI, yet I didn’t write it.
It was not my story even if I created the idea.
In my years of writer training, I have shared many story ideas with writers who went on to write interesting stories.
Sharing ideas with writers did not make me the author of their work.
Certainly not!
So I deleted the story of the girl who was bored at home and decided to go out and discover her world.
I disliked what had been produced because it didn’t have my authentic writer footprint.
My worry worsened when I listened to a BBC Book Club interview that evening.
An author was asked, “Did you write this novel using Artificial Intelligence?”
The author responded without hesitation, “Yes.”
I thought that response sounded scandalous—forgive me!
It would then look like anybody who knows how to use ChatGPT and prompts can produce a novel without knowing what constitutes creative writing.
Therefore?
But how does that matter to a reader who may not know how the novel was written? Isn’t it enough that the story is well-written and enjoyable to read?
To readers, it may not matter. But to authors who want to be original and authentic, it sure matters—unless they admit that they are co-authors with ChatGPT, which many authors will not disclose.
But whether writers disclose it or not, the fact remains that they didn’t create the content entirely on their own using their natural intelligence.
Research assistance
AI does thousands of things, from archaeology to zoology, in literature, medicine, music, architecture, the arts, dance, aviation, engineering, education, mathematics, science, technology, advertising . . . the list is endless.
AI can create a myriad of content, such as producing meeting minutes and even turning deliberations into a publishable article.
You can proofread your writing with ChatGPT.
It is a wonderful writer’s companion when used specifically as a research assistant or tool. But when used passively to develop lengthy or exhaustive written work, AI becomes a nameless ghostwriter.
Years ago, I would go to the British Council in Accra or the Balme Library at the University of Ghana to research simple topics.
I had a collection of encyclopedias and concordances from which I searched for information, quotations, authors, dates, Bible references and other facts to deepen my writing.
Today, thanks to Google search engines, AI-assisted technologies and other online tools, I can conveniently but carefully sift through the internet for the most appropriate content to augment my writing.
So, yes, AI has come to stay and will continue to offer help across all segments of life, including writing.
The writer can use the availability of massive literary content and information to research facts and figures to acquire knowledge that can be infused into writing.
For there are some types of writing that may never happen due to lack of time and expertise, but, admittedly, using AI can help to create such rare writing.
Before AI
Before the advent of AI, writers employed their natural talents to produce great and memorable works of prose, drama, and poetry.
Think about great authors such as Charles Dickens, William Shakespeare, Jane Austen, Leo Tolstoy, Homer and Fyodor Dostoevsky.
Come home to Africa and we salute celebrated authors like Chinua Achebe, Ayikwei Armah, Efua Sutherland, Wole Soyinka, Ama Ata Aidoo, Ngũgĩ wa Thiong'o, Asare Konadu, Peter Abrahams, Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie, Atukwei Okai and many others.
In their day, these writers produced great books without using AI.
Next week: We have more to discuss on this subject.
Next week, the good Lord willing, we shall look at other aspects of AI and the writer.
