Question for writers.... or anyone I guess.
What are your thoughts on using Ai as a tool for writing?
So I've been chatting it up with chatgtp late at night when I cant sleep, and I found it super useful for working out details of my novel. I'm being careful not to use it as a tool to write the novel FOR me, but to just talk openly with what is essentially a conversative search engine has opened up my eyes to some new ideas.
@FreedomATX yeah, exactly. I needed to work out the sewage system of New York City, existing prohibition tunnel locations and proximity to hospitals. There's no way I'm going to find an expert to talk to about this. So this was a great use for me.
@DanIsWriting Nope. Absolutely not. It was created using people's intellectual property without their permission, and I don't condone that taking of someone's IP. No matter what.
@joycereynoldsward actually it doesn't. Its a language modeling program that generates responses based on speech behaviors from its training data. But thats how language works, its like saying that something is plagiarism because you formed a sentence using words you have heard before and sentence structure from hearing people speak.
This is not to be confused with ai image generation that uses stable diffusion, which approximates an image from keywords from its training data of images
@joycereynoldsward also I was very clear in stating that I wasn't using it as a way to generate the content of my writing, but using it as a way to discuss ideas and work out details.
Which would be like saying that having a conversation with someone and then forming your own ideas based on that conversation is plagiarism.
@DanIsWriting I still would not use it for anything connected to fiction. It is far too easy for phrasings to slip in that aren't your own.
@DanIsWriting that is not my understanding, nor is it what is reported from people who have identified plagarized content in specific writing AIs.
@joycereynoldsward you might be right. What I am learning about openai specifically is that they are centering ethics, which no other ai company out there is. If Ai is as inevitable as the internet was in the 90's, I want to give my support to the company who is thinking about the ethical usage of it.
@DanIsWriting I don't think it's inevitable for fiction. For tech writing, yes. I even support it for things like writing special education documentation because the quality of IEPs (former sped teacher here) is all over the place, and could use the standardization (plus it would improve life for a lot of teacher case managers by saving time).
But for creative work? No. I don't like using any of the worksheets popular with some. To me, using AI for worldbuilding is...a cheat.
@joycereynoldsward I meant more as an emerging technology society will incorporate into everyday life.
I see what you mean though. I also don't like using exercises and formula driven techniques for writing.
But I do like talking about it. Working out my ideas with someone willing to listen. I guess thats the role ai plays for me, though I recognise the ways I could abuse that system to do all the work for me, and try my best not to.
Not everyone will hold back like that though.
@DanIsWriting honestly, as a former special education teacher and caseworker, I see the potential for AI in standardizing our documentation. It's a huge issue. BUT. When it comes to fiction, it's a huge issue. And for every person who is ethical about their use of it, there's a handful of others who aren't. And that's where the problems lie.
@DanIsWriting and here's an example of the problem:
@DanIsWriting My blog topic I'm working on for this month, in fact. I've been testing it out. It is helpful in some instances as a writer's assistant.
It's a shit writer.
@TheStorySmith thats cool. I would love to hear your experiences.
@DanIsWriting It's becoming rather a long piece! 😁
@DanIsWriting Interesting.
I've always just daydreamed, doodled, and muttered at the screen.
I mean, my fictional universe and characters are artificial constructs of my imagination. Does that make them "artificial intelligence"?
@mrfumblethumbs hmmm. I'm not sure. It depends on what intelligence actually is, and how artificial differs. I wonder when a character in my head starts making their own choices, if they are becoming real. If they are, and it uses the resources of my mind, that should be real, but the person in question doesn't exist beyond my mind and a few pages of words. Isn't that ai in a way? Are the algorithms that make up ai any different than words on a screen having their own thoughts?
@DanIsWriting Not sure if it is AI, as such. More like spawning a new process, in a computer programming sense.
Or the creative fragmentation of my own mind. Which I've got totally under control. Really. Totally.
@mrfumblethumbs I think William Gibson would call it a construct. Not self aware, but it operates using a personality matrix and memory data.
@DanIsWriting Not self aware?
Hmm, when my characters start talking to me, they sound pretty darned self aware. Especially when they come up with ideas I haven't.
@mrfumblethumbs thats how the construct works in 'burning chrome'. More or less. It's been a while since I read it. But I think the only difference between the construct and AI was free will. The construct was bound to the hardware and was based on data from a persons personality, and Ai could go anywhere in cyberspace and had the freedom to become its own personality and expand its computational resources.
@DanIsWriting I'd file that under good use. Works similar for software. It's great for ideas or exploring a problem. It's like having a near expert to chat with about what you're struggling with.