Artificial Intelligence (AI) has taken over, whether we like it or not. There are plenty of jokes about why AI can’t do our more mundane tasks like laundry or dishes but instead helps make art like music, visual art, and books.
But AI has been added to more mundane tasks – your fridge can tell you when you’re low on milk or fruit and add it to your grocery list. Alexa and Siri have been able to help you search the internet, and even now can help you adjust the light and temperature in your home when you’re on vacation in another state. AI is used in manufacturing, construction, and a number of other industries.
I told myself I would never use AI for writing an end product, and I haven’t. I won’t take away my own job/ But it’s a good tool to use as a starting point. Emphasis on tool. Anything you read by me will never be generated with AI. What you see on the page is all my doing.
AI is meant to do the things we can’t do ourselves. One of the reasons it’s taken me so long to publish a first novel is because I told myself I didn’t have the time. It took too long to write, outline, edit, rewrite, edit, rewrite…and on and on. Method held me back as well. I think in the big picture and then break it down into steps.
When I started to write the short story that would become my debut novel, I did what many in the writing community lovingly call “word vomit.” I sat down and I wrote what came out. I started with the goal of telling a complete story with a beginning, middle, and end. Only after I felt I had it all down did I go back and edit, add, delete, reword, and refine the final product into something I felt comfortable with other people reading. But I know I missed things. It didn’t win the competition I entered.
There was no outline, no direction or map on how to get there, just me, my computer, and an idea. I’m not quite sure where the drafts and final product of that short story are, and I’m not sure I want to know.
Writers are already using AI tools, even though they’ve never been labeled as AI. I use a writing/outlining tool that helps me see everything chapter-by-chapter, including ‘minor’ details like the first time the main character discovered what may have been the gun used in the crime. This software has a function where you can choose to ‘create a sequel.’ It automatically imports all my data character, location, and other world-building factors into a new file. The program cut out the need for me to re-enter all that data by using AI.
Those are just a couple examples of how writers have been using AI before we started calling it AI. AI isn’t ‘on the rise,’ AI is finally being identified and labeled.