How AI Affects Writers and the Writing Process
Claude, Jasper, Otter……
Perhaps these words sound like the names of your friends.
They can also be the names of your colleagues. Should I say your AI colleagues?
Have you been using AI tools to improve your writing?
Or, are you relying on ChatGPT to produce content that should’ve been written by you?
Being a human writer amidst a plethora of AI tools can either be exciting or exhausting.
That is, depending on how you use these tools to come up with a written output.
These AI tools are here to stay. So in this post, I am not going to tell you to avoid them.
It is because they are here to stay. If you’re a writer, you know that these tools have an impact on the writing process.
If you want to learn how AI affects you as the writer and how it impacts the writing process, read further.
How Does AI Affect Writers and the Writing Process?
1. It can put an end to “writers as wordsmiths”.
Writers who heavily rely on what these AI writing tools produce will cease to be real writers.
Instead, they exist merely as typists, copying what these AI writing tools produce.
Writers are called wordsmiths for a reason.
Human writers have the ability to weave words together to produce content that moves people.
The words produced by the human brain are all products of the writer’s unique set of experiences.
These are the kinds of experiences that no AI tools can relate to.
These AI tools work a lot like an octopus working on a typewriter with speed that can be likened to a Ferrari Portofino.
Human writers may not be able to type and spit out ideas as fast as these AI writing tools.
But what every human writer shares is from his own unique perspective, with that sincere longing to be heard.
This is just one of the many reasons why human writers are worthy to be called amazing wordsmiths.
This may seem like a biased description of a human writer. Please excuse me because I am a human, too.
2. It produces content that lacks genuine emotions.
If you want to be a successful blogger you’d better be good at establishing connections with your audience.
This is a must if you want to gain a lot of followers and increase traffic to your website.
One way to make this possible is to make sure that your content connects with your audience.
To do this, you have to see to it that your written output resonates with your audience.
When a person visits your website and reads a blog post there must be a certain level of connection that occurs.
Your audience must feel what you state in your written content. They should also be able to relate to the thoughts and experiences you share.
Unfortunately, these are what the AI tool cannot provide.
Obviously, these AI tools do not possess the heart of a human being. The information they share is merely a product of what has already been published online.
These AI tools do not have the capacity to read the thoughts and feelings of a human being.
Thus, their written output is devoid of these human emotions.
3. It eliminates the unique personality of the writer.
It can be so easy to say that ChatGPT is also capable of producing articles with wit and humor, much like the human writer does.
However, as a writer, would you be happy to know that the personality you show to your audience is totally not your own?
Let us not forget that people follow you in your social media accounts and read your articles because they like you.
Your readers liking your work is tantamount to saying that they love your personality as a writer.
Sad to say, the presence of these AI tools makes it hard for us to tell whether the written output shows the authentic side of the writer’s personality.
You can submit as many articles as you can, generated by ChatGPT or any other AI writing tools.
Even then, I believe you cannot deny deep inside you that each time you publish such content you have the feeling that the articles are “NOT YOU”.
If Stephen King is famous for his horror stories and Virginia Woolf is known for her extreme words of insults, what about you?
How would you want your audience to attribute your published articles to you as a writer?
4. It deprives writers of the chance to develop.
The more you write, the more you develop your writing skills.
The more you rely on AI writing tools to do your job, you run the risk of not improving yourself as a writer.
Well, you can definitely hand over the writing process to ChatGPT. Then all your chances of becoming a better writer are being thrown out of the window.
It is through the act of writing that our ability to produce logical thoughts for us and for our audience to reflect on is being honed.
While we write these tangible texts transcends to our readers’ thoughts, giving them something valuable to ponder upon.
Never allow yourself to be intimidated by the binary brilliance of these AI writing tools.
This is because we, human writers, possess the level of intelligence that makes us capable of tapping into the nuances of language.
This makes us adept at using the language in a way that is powerful enough to evoke certain emotions and thoughts.
These AI tools, no matter how intelligent they claim to be, cannot empathize and think critically.
Thus, making human writers an indispensable part of the written world.
Needless to say, the process of writing allows human writers to develop their ability to use the language.
All through the time that they write, they allow their brains to spend more time thinking and reflecting.
The result is a written output that imparts a message for human readers to relate to and reflect on.
5. I cannot provide new meaningful thoughts and experiences.
I write when I am sad. I write when I am happy. I write when I am angry.
This just goes to show how I love writing.
It is through writing that I am able to look both inward and outward.
Being able to see my thoughts being written down on a document that used to be just blank, exhilarates me.
For me, those bottled up emotions and unexpressed feelings are better put into writing than said out loud.
Writing gives you the chance to edit the words and improve the thoughts you want to convey.
All these things provide new and meaningful experiences to the reader. These are the kinds of experiences that AI cannot produce.
Not to mention the fact that human writers possess the innate ability to imagine.
Add in the unique level of creativity and what you will have is a written output that can transcend through time.
Each piece produced by a human writer not only integrates knowledge.
It provides new information into the world wide web’s database.
This new information shared by human writers paves the way for new pathways of learning. All these for your audience to consume and for AI developers to use.
Now you have two options.
You can rely solely on AI tools for writing and eliminate your chances of improving.
Or, you’d rather go through the tedious process of writing and continue to improve your writing skills.
So, when the internet is shut down, will you still be able to write a brilliant output?