Happy April Fool’s Day! Welcome to the first post in this year’s A to Z Blog Challenge. I hope you’ll join me each day as I work through the alphabet and give you a glimpse of my everyday life, joys, and struggles as an author. Please feel free to follow my blog and comment on my posts.
My first post will be concerning the latest complication for independent writers like myself. A is for Artificial Intelligence. There are several different types of AI available for writers. Most have a free version, but many also offer a paid subscription that’s supposed to be better. Among those most often quoted are Copy Al, supposedly the best one, Rytr, ChatGPT, Word tune, and Write Sonic.
While some authors claim that using AI simply enhances their own writing, I’m not sold on it. At the moment, there are too many unknowns and contradictory points that make it something to be avoided–at least until publishers and the reading public come to a consensus. I find it hard to believe that a computer can replicate the emotions and effort I put into my books. Do they do all the research I do to ensure that the factoids I add to the stories are as accurate as can be? Do they live and breathe the characters the way I do? Can they convey the nuances of a plot as it forms inside my head and transfer it into the story?
I have trouble believing it can when a grammar program can’t even identify context. But, people are using the software to generate books at an incredible speed. In a matter of hours, they produce a book that takes me weeks and sometimes months to create. The more books you have out, the better the odds are that you’ll get recognized, but surely the quality of the book makes a difference, too? My books may take longer to write, but I pour my heart and soul into each one. Unfortunately, while I was in competition with thousands of books written by indie writers, that number has grown exponentially thanks to the AI-assisted authors. Does it matter to the reader if the book is written with AI? Honestly, I don’t know, and that’s also a big part of the problem.
In the end, it means that it’s harder for me to find a reading audience for my works, which results in reduced income and that “Is it worth the effort?” feeling. But, I love to write, and so I’ll continue slogging along and hope that someone will find my books and escape from life if only for a few hours. Of course, leaving a review would be helpful too, but more about that in a later post.
Come back tomorrow for my post on the letter B.
Check out blog posts from other participants here: https://tinyurl.com/w54yupwe
Living the Dream 
I can see how AI is a threat to writers. It is also increasingly difficult for teachers to detect the use of AI. My niece tells me of students who use AI and get top marks for their essays. How will people know what is original, especially if it is altered slightly from the AI generated piece.
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Back when I was teaching English, plagiarism was something we had to contend with. I had a student copy a short story out of a Reader’s Digest. She was one of my top students. Unfortunately for her, I’d read that particular story only a week earlier and recognized it. She broke down and admitted she’d copied it because she’d waited until the last minute and had too much to do. Unfortunately, AI will make it easier for students to cheat, and harder for the teachers to catch them. It was just a fluke that I did.
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I don’t think readers will care if the book is written by AI if it is of the same standard as a book written by a person, but I think that is still a fair way off and I think readers will recognise AI content as somewhat lacking. At least, as a fellow author, I hope that’s the case,
Debbie
#AtoZChallenge
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So do I. The thought of being replaced by a machine isn’t a pleasant one and has happened so often already. Enough is enough.
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Honestly, I don’t think AI makes it more difficult for us to find a reading audience. Our audience is out there. It’s not easy to find them, but once we do, they will seek out our stories because they love what we write. AI won’t even come into the equation.
As Neil Gaiman said, there is one thing that only our stories have: us. And our readers love our stories because they love what ‘we’ weave into them. No other author can give them the same thing, and certainly can’t AI.
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That’s what I’m counting on.
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Yes AI is a force to be reckoned with. I’m wondering how the teachers will deal with it in their students work. Maybe AI can grade the papers and know immediately if it was home written.
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Not a fan of how some companies are using AI to decide whether a book is real or not… Or whether I’m impersonating myself or not. Grr. I can see the draw for some, though.
Ronel visiting for A: My Languishing TBR: A
Abominable Wraiths
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Yeah, it’s faster for some and less work, but it just doesn’t appeal to me.
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I feel if AI writes my story… then how do I put my name on it. I’ve occasionally let AI rewrite a paragraph snd then I pick snd choose additions or changes it made to my paragraph. In using it that way I feel like I’m learning as I might learn new ways to write and express myself.
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I recently got rid of my Grammarly because I found that more and more the changes it suggested didn’t fit what I was trying to say. I got fed up with pressing ignore and having tthe squiggly lines pop up again.
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