Recently, AuthorityHacker shared their Artificial Intelligence (AI) statistics with the world. According to their research combined with that of their third parties, they found that 85.1% of AI users use it for content creation and article generation.
It is important to note that ChatGPT, a popular generative AI software, was launched on the last day of November 2022 and boasts of having 1.6 billion visits in the last 30 days at the time of writing this.
As a freelance content writer myself, it has been quite the challenge to land writing gigs ever since because of how AI has entered the writing scene. I admit to having gotten very discouraged and even considered practising what I studied in university, which is more AI-proof.
The statistics seem to allude to writers to consider branching into careers that are AI-proof. However, I still chose to remain a freelance writer after doing my own research about whether AI could take my job.
In this blog post, I will be debunking the myth of AI replacing writers.
The Rise of AI in Writing
Generative AI works by a person giving it a prompt, to which it will gather information from the internet and then generate an answer for it in seconds. Something known as natural language processing (NLP) helps it to convey its findings to you in written form.
Over time, NLP has become better at mimicking writers and as a result, it has led people and businesses alike to drop writers in favour of AI-generated content which is fast, efficient, and cheap.
Although a recent study showed that humans preferred AI-generative content over that which was written by humans, some valid concerns have risen from the use of AI in generating content. Some of these concerns will be discussed below as part of why AI
cannot replace writers.
Limitations of AI in the Writing World
Lack of creativity and originality
AI does not possess a mind of its own, hence the artificial in artificial intelligence. It relies on being fed information from humans for it to understand human language and be able to replicate it well in written form.This is also why AI has limited creativity as it is not a natural trait that it possesses.
AI-generated content is not original because for it to have reached a point where it can generate content, it must have been fed existing content from writers. This has become a problem as it is an infringement on the intellectual property of those writers and sometimes, generative AI can also plagiarize their work.
It also brings about issues to do with copyright and whether AI-generated content belongs to whoever prompted it to generate such content, or if it belongs to the writers whose work was used to develop the NLP of the generative AI software. Additionally, AI-generated content cannot be copyrighted.
Writers, on the other hand, can create creative and original content due to their individual human experiences, empathy, and ability to think out of the box. They are also creators of work that is copyrightable as it is their intellectual property upon creation.
Repetitiveness and patterns can be spotted
Since AI learns by consuming large amounts of data, it tends to recognize patterns quickly and adapt to what it has been fed. This ends up in AI-generated content sticking to what it knows and sometimes, it shows. For instance, there has been some controversy surrounding 44 AI-generated Buzzfeed travel articles that had numerous incidences of recurring writing patterns used.
Writers, on the other hand, can switch things up from time to time because they possess their writing voices. As defined by Scribophile, a writer’s voice is an amalgamation of a writer’s vocabulary, branding, personal experiences, emotions, and style. This is evidenced by them morphing their writing voices to suit their audience and the content they write about without being redundant or boring.
Lack of authenticity
For people who value connection and authenticity via what they consume, AI-generated content may fail to scratch that itch for them. This is because AI cannot add that oomph by using personal anecdotes, use of stylistic devices such as sarcasm, personal experiences as well as a dash of emotion in its writing.
A writer, however, can connect to their audience with what makes them human. AI-generated content poses a risk of turning off readers who desire authenticity, and that is why writers are irreplaceable.
AI as a Writing Assistant
Since we have seen that AI has its shortcomings which prevent it from replacing writers, writers might as well use it as an assistant during the writing process.
AI can assist writers through research, grammar checking, and data analysis. They do not have to throw away the baby with the bath water.
Summary
The fears of writers being replaced by AI are valid – many people have opted to have generative AI carry out the work that writers do. It is because of factors such as affordability (it is relatively cheaper than hiring writers), efficiency, and how fast it is in generating written content.
Although the fears of writers are valid, we have seen that AI cannot replace them as writers are the custodians of originality and creativity, and have the ability to connect with audiences on a human level.
We have also seen that AI makes a good assistant to writers. They can incorporate AI in the writing process to make their work easier by leaving tasks such as research, data research, and grammar checks to the software that can do the job.
Conclusion
Although AI has posed a lot of risk to a lot of jobs (writing included), we have come to see that it is best suited as an assistant to writers and not a replacement for them. Yes, it may replicate what they do (and sometimes pretty well) but it lacks the sauce that writers have – the essence of being human.
