The above was part of a long article in the New York Times on July 28th about AI books.
On Wednesday, I saw a post from Jane Friedman saying that the methodology used in the assessment was under question. I think we can take it, however, that there is a flood of AI books on Amazon.
So, I’m wondering when publishers will start publishing AI books to save them the bother of having to pay authors. Starting with genre fiction.
I’m sure it’ll be the accountants who will suggest it. Maybe they’ll test it out for one or two and then if it works there will be lots more.
But first of all they have to get us to accept AI writing.
I stop reading as soon as I get to one of those AI writing errors that I’ve seen in the last year, like plot points being completely forgotten and character names changing.
But what’s gonna happen when it gets better? When AI is able to write long-form fiction and keep the character names the same and copy anyone’s style 100%.
Here’s what’s going to happen: human writers will need to be highly capable and they need to transgress.
Below is a sneak peek of a slide from the presentation I’m going to give at the International Dublin Writers Festival in two weeks about this very subject: How Writers can Survive in the age of AI.
And if the Chinese win the AI race, books won’t even be allowed to talk about what’s going on in China or about the Communist Party in any derogatory way
Do you know what the Nazis called fiction they didn’t like? They called it degenerate fiction. They burned Franz Kafka’s books for instance.
So it won’t just be the Chinese we have to watch out for if AI books fill the bookstores. It will be any authoritarian government. We’ve had a few in Europe.
So let me know, what do you think about this argument? Do we have to take risks?
Here’s what one famous writer said:
Albert Camus believed that the writer’s vocation is defined by the refusal to lie about what one knows and the determination to resist oppression (Nobel acceptance speech, December 10, 1957).
Do you agree?
Yes, we will give away a $500 ads campaign or credit towards services.
The closing date for this competition has been extended until Friday 7th August. That way we can announce the winner at our International Dublin Writers Festival the following weekend on the 15th of August.
Do you want to have your book announced at our festival? Do you want to win $500 in services?
The competition is about first lines.
Please use the comments below to post a first line. You can like anyone else’s first line that you think is good but not your own, please. The first line with the most positive comments/Likes, which also meets a general criteria for a great first line, will win.
There will be multiple opportunities during July to post your first line so please get it ready or comment now
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