A Few Musings on Generative AI (Patreon)

This started as a social media post but turned into an essay. I plan to share this on my public blog in a few days, but I wanted to give it you guys early. Also, let me know your thoughts on AI technology.

The rise of generative AI has really gotten to me as a writer, because it amplifies a few things. First, people just aren't important to companies and the race to replace people with AI shows we aren't valuable to them. I never thought I was going to be a mainstream writer, but the fact the output of machines could soon dominate the mainstream media field hits home the fact I'm never going to make it big in the mainstream.

The second is, I sometimes wonder why should I bother? AI always will always be faster and more grammatically accurate than I am. It's not that I don't have stories to tell, but in a marketplace crowded by AI, how do stand out? How do I get noticed?

The answer to that is community of course, but reflecting on that point, I'm always going to be talking to a small community of people. While I plan to keep writing, I do wonder what this feeling of hopelessness to compete with the machine does to a person. It can’t be good, especially for writers and artists starting out.

Maybe we're all John Henry at this point trying to beat the steam drill. And when you're fighting every day to just keep up, that makes it hard to thrive. I refuse to use generative AI in my writing. The moment I bring AI into that process, the work stops being my own, and I’m back to that why should I bother question. I’ve always needed to think through my work before I share it with other people. So, if I’m going to let AI do the thinking and the writing, there is no place for me in the process.