Member Panel: The Impact of AI on Writers
Bill Baldwin
I’ve spent several years still leery of AI. Most of my life I’ve coped with new computers and software as they appear, and gotten used to confusion as massive documentation evolved into “click on that icon and see what happens!”
My friends who endure various medical conditions rely on dictation when emailing me. Sometimes their message make sense, sometimes…not so much.
Even my clear-speaking oral surgeon’s recent voice mail got transcribed into:
“Smile Smile, shortcake, ibuprofen Need for Need for some of your other keys, so please call any questions I wanna take care and have a good week. Mobile.”
With dictation that professional, why would I not rush to embrace AI?
(I won’t even mention—beyond this one sentence—how much I love my mobile phone touchscreen keypad, which switches among three different keyboard layouts as I type, of course without warning…)
So I arrived at our April author’s panel curious what they would say about AI. Joe-Ming Cheng, Alice Wu, Chris Weilert, and Suzanne Bayles would, hopefully, either calm my fears on display clear warning signs: “STOP! TURN BACK NOW! YOU DON’T WANT TO GO THERE! DANGER!!!”
To get to the point:
“AI, or NOT AI? The answer is Yes.” (Yes – That’s pentameter.)
AI software can be put to good use:
—To summarize documents
—To help generate ideas.
—To imitate a particular well-known author’s style.
—To find the “right word.”
—To condense material.
—To translate.
Several panelists have spent years or decades developing AI. They provided information and insight on the many AI packages now available, including:
—ChatGPT (GPT = “Generative Retrained Transformer”)
—Sudowrite
—Paragraph AI
—Hyperwrite AI
—Copy.ai
—Jarper
—ProwritingAid
With all these available, shall we all rush to adopt AI? “Rush” may not be the operative word.
Given the power of AI, we must also be aware of the dangers. It is particularly important to “trust but verify.” Proceed cautiously! Be sure to check the terms and conditions of the packages. Vulnerabilities include the possible pirating of your work.
Following the talk, Suzanne provided reference material on the AI packages most useful for writers: for novels, poetry, prose, social media, blogs; for improving vocabulary, grammar, formatting, editing; for generating ideas and overcoming writer’s block.
Lots of info here! Thanks to all our panelists! They gave us a better idea of how to plunge in—carefully! What I might gain—and what I should avoid.
Thanks to all for this wonderful panel!