Enhancing Creativity or The “Easy Button”

Artificial Intelligence (AI) is a hot topic these days. All of a sudden there is a collective realization of how this rapidly evolving technology is affecting so many aspects of life. AI is now integrated into areas like music, artwork, voice generation, diagnosing health conditions, forecasting the weather…it really affects the spectrum of everyday life already and that will likely only grow. In the world of writing, the reactions range from feelings of anxiety and cynicism, to excitement about increased productivity and idea generation.

I first remember using a version of this a few years ago when Grammarly came on to the scene to help with the nuts and bolts of writing. But then the arrival of ChatGPT, GPT-3, GPT-4 changed the whole landscape.

What excites many writers is that AI adds another tool to their toolbox. Sure there will be those who will take their program of choice and unethically utilize it to generate whole chapters of a book or article they’re working on, just to finish it, for instance. But with any tool that carries benefit, there’s always going to be those who misuse it. AI is no different. 

The internet is a classic example. The research and social connection advantages of the web are well documented, but almost immediately, the sleazy purveyors of pornography, scams, and the other traps of predatory opportunists oozed out of their skanky holes to play on people. 

I think the most important ones (guardrails) need to be put in place by the writer himself or herself.

I tend to see AI as a new tool for collaboration. Just as I gather inspiration from discussions with other people, writers or not, or from being out in God’s creation and taking in all the inspiration that nature can give, or just sitting in a coffee shop or standing in a grocery store line and listening, not eavesdropping, to the dialogue between other people, it’s all energy and material that you can glean to feed your writing creativity.

AI applications such as Sudowrite or the versions of GPT are tools that I believe can be useful. Articles, marketing copy, or just looking for general guidance in composing a difficult email or speech that you have no idea how to start, are a few examples. In novel writing, it can provide technique ideas in portraying emotions or inserting backstory on a character while still being true to the story context and the writer’s voice, and tone. It can put wheels on one’s writing ideas. It shouldn’t be a crutch.

Granted, people of the writing persuasion will likely take this ethical approach more seriously than those who have little ability in writing and “just want to get it done.” Just know there are always going to be hacks like that. 

While there are some guardrails that are built into most of these AI programs, I think the most important ones need to be put in place by the writer himself or herself. 

As a photographer who takes a photo that has good fundamental bones takes that image and enhances the light or tweaks the color or tone to produce a great piece of art, so a writer can seek collaboration or ideas to make his or her art more of what they envisioned. Sometimes the photo or the manuscript doesn’t need it at all, but it’s a tool in the box that’s there to be used responsibly. 

Here are some of the top AI applications according to their specific usage.