Chatbots have been in the public consciousness a lot lately, though they’ve been around for a while. It’s curious that they’re often given the term AI even though “intelligence” isn’t technically applicable. There’s no independent or creative thought at play here; they simply follow an algorithm by filtering existing data into the desired format. Whatever comes out the other end is nothing more than a distorted reflection of what real humans have already created. When an artificial intelligence shows up in a sci-fi story, gains sentience and runs amok, what the story is really exploring isn’t (most of the time) the literal person-hood of non-organic entities. It’s yet another story about humanity examined from a metaphorical viewpoint. Humans made the machines, so whatever we say about the machines, we’re actually saying about humans. It’s a fun thought exercise, but it’s not really about a fear of AI.
As far as real-world applications, there is a trend that I find interesting and somewhat disquieting. People think they’ve found a shortcut to writing. Submissions to science fiction magazine Clarkesworld have been flooded with chatbot-generated dreck. My father has to remind his college students that he can spot machine-written essays just as well as any kind of plagiarism. No, I’m not prophesying the inevitable downfall of society by way of chatbot, nor even the dearth of quality writing. Any teacher/editor/reader with the speck of experience can tell the difference between genuine writing and something that came out of an algorithm. My concern is more that this trend highlights an already-existing problem: the devaluing of an artist’s labor, both writers and otherwise.
There is a uniquely individualistic, quirky quality to art that is very difficult to quantify. That’s part of what makes it so powerful. You can measure the time they spend creating it, or the training/expertise that they bring to their work, but beyond that it’s very nebulous. We’re left with vague clichés like “it comes from the heart” or “you pour your soul into it.” Something almost indefinable, but we know it when we see it. And we know when it’s missing. Naturally it varies from artist to artist, and we could argue about original versus derivative, but the stuff that chatbots generate is the pure essence of derivative. It has to be. You can’t program creativity.
I don’t mind if people find these programs a useful tool for brainstorming or jumpstarting their process. It’s not for me, but whatever works for you, that’s fine. And of course there’s the sheer entertainment value of inputting a particular collection of data and seeing what nonsense the chatbot spits back up. I only balk at the implication that if we can just tweak the parameters a little more, perhaps improve the grammatical details and the information processing, we’ll have a machine that can write just as competently as a person. Is it any surprise that I, a person trying desperately to earn validation as a writer, would take offense at the notion that my heartfelt labor could be replaced by a computer program? (As far as I’m concerned, the real writer in that situation would be the programmer, and that’s a whole other conversation.) It’s hard enough when I read a published book and find its quality somewhat lacking, then wonder why I can’t break into the industry. To read an artificially-created work and watch people praise it? No, thank you.
There’s no doubt in my mind that we will always need and therefore always have a place for writers. Whether those writers will be properly appreciated is a different question. Financial compensation is only one component of that and will generally be at the mercy of the fluctuating whims of the reading public. I suppose what I’m really hoping for is a more enthusiastic celebration of creativity and the artists who create. Writing is more than putting words together into meaningful sentences and paragraphs. It’s not a mechanical generation of fungible content. It is an expression of human-ness, and as I’ve proven with many a checked box online, I am not a bot.
cynthiaailshie 