With artificial intelligence slap bang in the mainstream, there’s a lot of speculation about what jobs it will cause to become obsolete. Authors have been particularly worried, as AI technology has shown that it can write detailed and complex prose.
Will AI soon reach a stage at which it supersedes human authors? Or will society fight against this possibility and champion the need for real emotions in their reading content? The latter outcome is what writers hope for, but it doesn’t mean AI will be banished from the story-creation process.
AI is Already Good Enough to Pass as a Writer
The scary thing about AI today is that it is good enough to pass for a real author. Indeed, according to PIA’s report, most people can’t tell the difference between a quote from a famous writer and an AI-generated one. The survey included numerous famous books, including Dune and 1984, and participants found it hard to spot the AI generated text.
The report did note, however, that while the AI tool could replicate the writing style of famous authors, it couldn’t come up with original material on its own. Instead, it required specific prompts from a human to refine the paragraphs and align them with the original source’s tone of voice.
Would AI Fiction be Meaningless?
According to recent reports, there are too many uncertainties about whether AI will replace authors. With AI content detection tools readily available, it’s easy to find out if a robot has written something. There’s a chance that this knowledge would put off a lot of readers.
That’s because part of the beauty of fiction is that readers can sense the author’s inner thoughts and feelings. They can form a connection with a writer when they share the same ideas about the world, which can lead them to search for more content from that person.
AI fiction could be considered soulless, and it may fail to take off with mass audiences for this reason.
AI Could Flourish as a Writing Aid
One of the main things that authors should be aware of is that many people in the industry will be using AI as a writing aid. It can help with research, editing, and churning the words out faster. If more people can create books easily, it will make the market much more competitive.
This is why authors need to learn how to work hand-in-hand with AI. According to Medium’s article, there’s no doubt that the technology is here to stay. Therefore, it makes sense for people to leverage its power.
Judging by how advanced AI writing tools are, there’s a strong chance that the technology will be able to write fiction in the future. However, it could be a case that more people want to read human words than those of a robot.
