However, in many cases, letting the computer influence the progress of the project, rather than making a series of decision-making decisions, can be like giving the computer power when you want to feel like you’re in charge. Planning can also be fun. Planning—and that includes techniques such as plotting, endings, and openings, as well as any kind of event on a higher level than writing—is something that many writers consider a tricky, intellectual, and fun part of their job, a. a part that feels special to a person. Figuring out how a poem should end is difficult, but there are challenges we enjoy doing. Being able to reach the end of an event can only come from struggling to do it yourself.
What about the trick of getting words on a website? In cognitive psychology research, this is often called “translation,” because we are translating amorphous ideas into meaningful words. Most writers, or actually most people who should write, know the feeling of empty thoughts. The average writer learns themselves from this fear, but no matter how many times you put words on the page, you will encounter that moment when you don’t know what is coming. This is the job that most computers are trained to do: predict what’s coming.
The role of AI writing machines as writing buddies is a big difference in the way writers get help, yet it is still their biggest selling point and use. Many writing tools available today will write for you, either to pick up where you left off or to respond to specific instructions. SudoWrite, a popular AI writing tool, does all of this, with options to “write” where you left off, “describe” a common name, or “guess” ideas based on how you describe them. Systems like Jasper.ai or Lex will complete your paragraph or script according to instructions, and Laika is similar but focuses more on fiction and drama.
These tools are good and comfortable; The AI system is drawing on more text than any human can read, and its ability to lean on the unexpected can be great for writers looking to keep their writing fresh. Computer-generated text has been compared to text itself, or to a well-read but clumsy parrot, making it as capable as human writers, perhaps even more so.
However, it is interesting that many AI writing systems are designed to complete our sentence, or to predict the next one, because when I talk to writers about what they want help with, no one talks about asking someone to write for them. . That’s not how writers treat people when it comes to their work, even though that’s what computers are so good at, and they’re so widely used right now. While some writers are eager to receive feedback when they want it, others are reluctant to let an outsider choose their words. As several writers have told me, once something is on the page, it’s a little harder to imagine anything else. This is one reason why many writers do not like to respond quickly to assignments; the work is very soft, they need to promote the idea so that others can see its potential. The computer, even if it does not bring about its own intentions, can interfere with the author’s intention. And some writers are just too proud to sit down and write a thousand words. It’s like exercising. You have to keep going, otherwise your skills will atrophy.
