THE FUTURE OF AI AND WRITING

“I got mine” sounds dismissive but I can’t tell you how to engage the future.

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WHY DON’T I CARE?

I was approached on a private channel with a question: “Thaddeus, why don't you care if people use AI?”

Because there is no artificial intelligence on Earth. There is no machine capable of thinking like humans do, capable of learning anything a human could. Artificial General Intelligence — the gold standard — is still just an idea.

What we have instead is generative artificial intelligence, a form of machine intelligence focused through a large language model. This technology is not self-aware and is not more meaningful to you than a toaster or a calculator might be.

It’s just a complex tool. It’s a powerful tool. A dangerous tool. Dangerous to your cognition. Dangerous to your development. That only matters if you want to have skills in the future.

Only if you want to be able to remain independent of the machine.

If your goal is to grow as a creative, to acquire skills which can be used without access to a machine, then you are going to have to experience attempting the art. Making the effort. Failing to be successful. Learning from people who are more knowledgeable than you. You must master your craft by doing it.

I'm going to tell you the same thing I used to tell the young people I taught in college. They would ask me if I cared whether they learned or not. They said they thought I put in a little too much effort.

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I CARE TOO MUCH?

I surprised them when I said: "I don't care if you learn or not. I get paid either way. The way I see it — I got mine. I learned what I needed to know, the processes necessary to model the world effectively, and acquired a collection of skills to allow me to be employed. This isn’t about me and what I do. It’s about you and what you choose to learn.”

"Then why are you so over the top with your classes, using those strings and modeling shapes to teach us networking?"

"Because I got mine doesn't mean I shouldn't do my best to ensure that you learn. I thought by making a model you could touch, it would be easier to visualize how different networks manage their data. The better I teach, the better the chances you have of learning it."

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USE IT? DON’T USE IT?

It doesn’t matter to me. It’s what you’re willing to pay for your choice.

I want you to sit with an idea before you go off and prompt your next novella into existence: Generative artificial intelligence is a terrible creative writer. It cannot randomly tell a meaningful story.

The meaning comes from what the writer gives it — stories focused through your experiences, your unique signature of events which guide your lives and your ability to tell stories.

But the craft of storytelling must be learned. It must be experienced. It must be written by someone who wants to tell stories. Give me your tired, your hungry words, and through your continued experience, working with other writers, exploring your curiosity through the actual effort of writing and through the experience of failing.

You can't get there through generative artificial intelligence. If it’s writing, you’re not.

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PAY UP

I don't have anything to worry about.

The truth of the matter is simple: anyone can be displaced by people choosing to give writing jobs to an AI. But that AI is not doing MY job. It is doing an inferior imitation of my creative brilliance.

I put in my time — having read thousands of books, having written thousands of essays and articles, and having penned hundreds of short stories — the hardware, the neural pathways, the comfort with mythology, the enthusiasm of exploring systems, plumbing narratives, understanding the epistemology and the ontology of my many universes, I have acquired the fundamental skills necessary to write without the tool.

GAI delays your experience. It delays your ability to perform, and each GAI functions differently, so having access to more of them only further muddies your style and your capacity for growth.

GAI cannot improve through experience. That is your greatest power and you shouldn’t surrender it to a machine. Because it will be a long time before a machine will be equal to you, no matter what the venture capitalists say in their fundraisers.

I got mine. I suggest you get yours. No one can force you to make the effort to learn, to push past your limits, to make the choices which cause you to make mistakes. Failure is part of the learning curve. The best part.

Why still teach? Because somewhere out there someone is learning. They are exploring the tools the world is presenting and realizing, there are times in our lives where there is no substitute for experience.

Experience earned one day at a time but with an outcome that lasts a lifetime.

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I DIDN’T TELL YOU TO USE AI OR NOT TO USE IT

Just to be clear: My perspective is contrary. I intended to be.

Most people are saying writing with AI is okay. I am saying writing with AI is a choice and if your skills aren't already fully and firmly developed, you might be making the wrong choice. You could be denying yourself the necessary experience to write meaningfully — delaying your fully developed writing craft by choosing GAI over the experiential exploration that sharpens it. That too is a choice.

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Writing Craft: Mastering the Urge to Write — What Nobody Ever Told Me

writingcooperative.com/…

#creativity #CreativeGap #WritingCraft #experience

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