My big problem with using AI content

You’d have to have been living under a rock for the last year or more not to have heard of ChatGPT.? But for those unfamiliar with this phenomenon, it's a Large Language Model (LLM) AI tool developed by Open AI and now backed by Microsoft.

It’s a very, very clever tool.? Type in a few prompts and BINGO, you have a blog post written.? Or a short story.? Or a letter to your MP.? The possibilities are almost endless.

What ChatGPT does is this:? It takes the query you have typed in natural language, for instance: “Write a formal letter to my MP about how annoyed I am with the Government’s position on climate change” (this may or may not be a fictitious example).? It then takes everything relevant it can find on the internet and cleverly weaves that into a written piece on the subject of your request.? It’ll find who your local MP is and all of the information on the subject you’ve mentioned before creating a narrative in the voice of an irate constituent.? As I say, for example.

In particular it has taken the business world by storm.? No longer do people have to spend time actually thinking about and crafting insightful pieces for their latest company blog or LinkedIn post.? They simply have to type a request into an easy-to-use tool and the hard work is done for them.? Now that ChatGPT can be embedded into MS Office products in the form of Copilot, the process has become even more seamless.?

So far, so good.? But I have a serious issue with this.

You see, when I read a blog post, something insightful on LinkedIn or any kind of writing be it fiction or non fiction, I want to read what the author has to say.? I want to receive the benefit of their own wisdom distilled and written down so that I can learn from it.

Content created by a detailed trawl of the internet and written in narrative style is just not the same thing.? Oh and once you’ve tried it yourself a few times, you’ll be able to spot AI-created content a mile off.? ChatGPT’s writing style is actually very generic and it makes use of words that no one actually ever uses in real conversations (“moreover” anyone?)

AI’s ability to create content is getting cleverer and cleverer.? Its advocates assure us that soon we won’t be able to tell the difference between writing that is AI-generated or created by a human.? Short stories in the style of, say, Neil Gaiman are apparently only a heartbeat away.

But Neil Gaiman is an incredible author and I’m a big fan of his work.? When I read something by him, I want it to be the creation of that brilliant mind and his unique writing process.? The same goes for Ernest Hemingway, W.B. Yeats, Raynor Winn, J.R.R. Tolkien, Mitch Albom, Tim Marshall and many of my other favourite authors.

AI created writing (or art, or music for that matter) is soulless by comparison.? It is simply copying content that others have previously made available and amalgamating it into something new.? AI doesn’t actually create anything new of value at all.

If you have something interesting to say (in writing, music or art) that people will engage with, then take the time to create it.

AI is a brilliant tool for simplifying the research stages of a piece you might be working on.? But take that information, stir in some of your own wisdom and then make content that is really worth people taking the time to enjoy.

I can’t remember who originally said this, but it sums up my feelings on the matter perfectly.? Simply put, if you could not be bothered to take the time to write something, why would I want to take the time to read it?

When I was experimenting with ChatGPT, just to see what it was capable of, I asked it to write a letter from me expressing my love and admiration for my wife.? It produced several hundred words of, admittedly over the top and gushing praise which I duly sent to her.? Her response was,

“The thought was lovely but I’d rather you had written it, not C3PO!”

And that’s the point.? The letter hadn’t come from my own heart, it was generated by a computer that I had told what to do.??

Please don’t misunderstand me, I’m not against automation at all.? Throughout history, greater access to technology has improved human lives immeasurably.? But it has also negatively impacted (or reduced to a niche) the craft of creating things that are truly new and valuable.? Writing creatively or informatively is, I fear, also becoming one of those things.??

I’m absolutely here to read your words and learn from what you have to say.? But do please take the time to learn to write well and create that content yourselves. Otherwise, all we’ll have to read is generic content trawled up from the internet and made from knowledge already published.

This piece is also published on my personal blog at thatrichardbloke.co.uk.? All content there is created by me and always will be.?