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Almost everyone uses AI on a weekly, if not daily basis. While AI is undoubtedly dangerous, it’s here to stay.
That’s what the evolution of technology is: progress and innovation.
But is using AI to write what you need an innovative use?
No.
While AI in and of itself is an innovation, using it for certain tasks is quite the opposite. Take creative writing for example, where there’s a lot of danger involved in the use of AI. Let’s discuss how.
Here’s A Quick Look at What We’ll Explore:
- How people bring words to life with their writing, while AI uses 1s and 0s to compute suitable syntax.
- How writing has variety, in fact over 8 billion styles of writing.
- How a popular AI chatbot nearly killed the em dash, and how we noticed.
- How AI needs to be approached with caution and used safely.
- How your voice is one of your strongest innate possessions.
What is AI and Creative Writing?
Let’s start this off with the basics: defining the subject matter.
Britannica defines Artificial intelligence (AI) as the ability of a computer to perform tasks that are commonly associated with the intellectual processes that are characteristic of humans.
I define creative writing as the art of using words like paint brushes. With the page as a blank canvas. You can use these brushes to educate, entertain, display, demonstrate and so much more.
Britannica also states that some AIs perform specific tasks as well as humans.
Creative writing isn’t one of them.
Humans give breath and life to their writing, while AI uses code to calculate optimal syntax. Calculation is perfectly fine in mathematics and sciences, but it’s not exactly common practice in English studies. There’s a reason for that.
The written word is an art form where you use words to paint on the page.
You even have the options of punctuation marks that are a straight line, like a dash, or a squiggly line, like a tilde. There are so many letters you can use to form a word, words to form a sentence, and sentences to form a paragraph. Want to see how many words, sentences and paragraphs can be used in writing? Read my blog.
What are the Different Writing Types & Styles?
There are many types of creative writing:
- Content Writing
- Copywriting
- Screenwriting
- Poetry
- Storytelling
- Essays
- Playwriting
- Speechwriting
- Songwriting
- Blogging
Truthfully, I could go on…there are many types of writing, each with countless styles. And that’s one of the best parts of writing: variety. There are a lot of people out there, over 8 billion, and that means there are over 8 billion styles of writing.
I believe every person has the ability to bring words to life, it’s just a matter of how.
AI has an even more impressive amount of styles…oh wait…it only has one. Sure, there are different operating systems out there with their own coding, but they all come down to binary code, just 1s and 0s. Humans are made up of so much more. We bring our unique touch to every text and email we write.
Is Using AI for Writing Really THAT Bad?
Yes.
Take the em dash for example — one of the best punctuation marks in a writer’s arsenal that I just used for dramatic effect. A popular AI chatbot that uses a large language model (LLM) was recently under scrutiny for the over-usage of the em dash. Writers across the globe who love using the em dash quickly watched as their favorite punctuation mark died (myself included).
How did it die? Because of that over-usage.
The em dash was used excessively in the feedback from this AI chatbot. It seems those 1s and 0s thought it could get away with trying to emulate the creative usage of the em dash.
It quickly became a clear and unfortunate sign of someone using a robot to write things like social media captions, website pages, even text messages. Yes, some have become so reliant on this AI chatbot that they can’t even come up with how to respond to people without using it.
Luckily, many writers have taken to the page to defend the em dash and its distinctly versatile usage. Explaining the em dash, its purpose of emphasizing, listing and so much more was made clear to anyone who didn’t realize its beauty. The developers of this AI chatbot heard us loud and clear.
If you need help with checking how to use the right there, their or they’re — sure, use AI, it’s okay to use it as an assistant. When does AI become dangerous? When you use it to write the sentences and paragraphs that use there, their, and they’re.
What Should Be Done?
You should use AI safely.
Quite frankly, you should use AI cautiously.
AI stands in need of water for constant cooling, it even requires the same amount of water as people drink from bottles…globally. So let’s use water as a visual reference.
We all drink water. The primary purpose of water is to stay hydrated, which we need to be to stay functioning. Although, like everything else (especially AI), you can have too much.
You can drink so much water that you end up sick, disoriented, and potentially face deadly consequences. So treat AI like water, except remember the primary difference between the two: you don’t need AI to function.
We cannot allow AI to take over the world of creative writing — not to be dramatic, but it needs to be protected at all costs. The moment you start to use AI to do all of your creative writing, you redefine the word and turn everything you write into everything it writes. That’s a downgrade.
No one likes getting robbed.
So why allow yourself to be robbed of your innate creativity?
Let’s face it…
AI is here to stay, but it cannot be allowed to take over.
Use AI as safely as you would handle scissors, and as sparingly as you would use the em dash. Creative writing is an art form, and it’s meant to be…well, creative. 1s and 0s are not creative, they’re impressive in their own right, but they’re not meant to be impressed upon the written word.
So what can you do?
Be yourself.
Be unique.
Write with your own voice.
Your voice is the most valuable thing you posses. So next time you’re at trivia night and want to change your group name, don’t turn to a chatbot to calculate something “creative.” Brainstorm something creative by yourself, or even better — come up with something as a group. There’s creativity in collaboration too.
Want to learn more about my mission?
Check out the website!
SOURCES:
* Canva was used to create the images used in this blog *
AI definition
Study: Artificial intelligence models might be more thirsty than thought