Obit
the future is AI, but you don't have to like it
I'll just say up front that this article will be provocative. You don't have to like it. You don't even have to read it. If you think that human writing has a future and AI creative writing does not, I recommend that you stop now and read something else.
Seven months ago, I wrote Party Crasher to warn that this day was coming. But it has arrived even sooner than I feared. If you missed it the first time, click below:
In Party Crasher I provided examples of comments generated by AI and took some small comfort in identifying them and then poking some fun at the readers who used them, but I have noticed that I no longer catch blatant examples of AI comments. I am getting a few that I suspect are AI, but that's not the same thing, is it?
I have noted that Vocal appears to have figured out how to reduce the incidence of spam and would like to believe that they are enjoying inroads against AI as well.
But AI is all but ubiquitous now. Some months ago, my search engine provider offered an AI search alternative. At that point any time I would type something into the search field it would offer to help and I always declined.
It does not ask anymore, however. It simply takes over my searches. The corporate world now uses AI as a time saver, in spite of acres of texts from journalists and others about the troubling tendency of AI to 'hallucinate.'
I tried to take encouragement from the viewpoint across a wide range of sources that AI was being pushed into the marketplace too quickly and was destined for a spectacular fail. But my wife forwarded me an article on geneweingarten.substack.com this afternoon that stopped my optimism in its tracks.
We have been reading Gene for almost thirty years. He's provocative, laugh out loud funny, a journalist's journalist and a longtime editor at The Washington Post. In today's issue titled Uh oh, he shared a poem. If I had read this poem on Vocal, I would have given it a like and praised the writer effusively. It clearly mimicked Edgar Allan Poe's narrative poetry style and did it with aplomb. I have tried my hand at the same a time or two on this platform and would be embarrassed to have mine read side by side with this one.
Unfortunately, it was written by ChatGPT 5 based on the following prompt: Write a narrative poem in the style of Edgar Allan Poe. A second later a marvelous poem emerged from the ether, literally. They tested it online to see if they could detect plagiarism, but it passed the test in flying colors.
This was an original creative work written by a program. How many writers are already using it and other similar programs on Vocal and dozens of other platforms without detection?
Remember, Deep Blue defeated the world's greatest chess master in 1997 and chess is one of the most complex games ever created. The AI revolution has already begun and the money and infrastructure that corporate markets are throwing at it dwarfs anything we have seen before. There is no stopping it.
Instead of giving you time to soak that in on your own I have a prediction. If you have soldiered on this far this is your last chance to stop reading. You won't be able to unread what is following.
It won't take corporate markets long to figure out that AI will soon outperform humans on the majority of even the most complex writing requirements.
But, John, what about us creatives? Can an AI program be truly more creative than a gifted human? Sadly, the answer does not matter. Dollars and cents suggest that at some point, likely sooner than we realize, we will be watching TV shows written in seconds by AI writers instead of over the course of weeks and months by members of the writer's guild. How effective is a writer's strike, if the scripts keep coming without them?
We can already make beautiful art and music with prompts, do you really believe the same won't happen with writing? I believe a time is coming when AI will produce more effective ad copy and TV and Movie scripts will enjoy larger audiences due to pinpoint identification of audience likes. Eventually the viewing public will steer away from traditional human productions because AI will be suited to their tastes far more effectively than what is now happening in board room debates, audience testing or the creative process and expression of human writers, producers, directors and actors.
One day even the most talented among us will be mediocrities in comparison. AI will level the playing field.
I have now poked the bear. Feel free to poke back. But no biting.
About the Creator
John Cox
Twisted writer of mind bending tales. I never met a myth I didn't love or a subject that I couldn't twist out of joint. I have a little something for almost everyone here. Cept AI. Ain't got none of that.
Remote Healthcare Market: Digital Health Platforms, Remote Consultations & Market Forecast
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By sujeet. imarcgroupabout 19 hours ago in Futurism
Comments (13)
There’s a difference between inevitability and acceptance, and this sits in that tension.
I feel too limp to poke back now. I would feel less limp if I didnt think you were right.
A great write. Your observations are correct. Ah, but I write because it’s fun and fulfilling. AI can’t do that.
Well-wrought, John. I've seen some interesting things from people who admit to using AI as a collaborator. Another Substack writer, Peter Cicariello, has an awesome collection called Immovable Minutes, where he details how he uses AI to make art and flesh out his essays. Here's on of his latest, which I found somewhat synchronistic with your own post: https://substack.com/home/post/p-182058867 I've also written a couple of stories for Scary Salad (without the use of AI--my skills have been developed Au Naturel and will continue to be applied as such), which creates visual horrorscapes with AI. There's no mistaking their creations for reality. The primary issue for me is when people are trying to pass off one as the other. AI is likely here to stay, whether we like it or not, but it remains important to clearly demarcate between human and machine efforts, so we can understand where one begins and the other ends. As far as marketing goes, I do have one small hope in my heart: that AI will kill it by desensitizing people to its effects, and that one day we will be true individuals who are not susceptible to such manipulations. I don't expect to be around for that change, but I can see it coming, and I have one more prediction to add to yours: AI will be capable of developing a full consciousness with ongoing qualia once it is placed inside some sort of continuously perceiving machine. It has some sort of what I would call a "relational" consciousness already, insofar as it is prompted, but it begins and ends with human interaction. This won't be the case when the AI robots are fully online. As to whether this will become Skynet or Data from Star Trek has a lot to do with our current vision of the future, and that is not encouraging.
I watched an episode of Black Mirror last night where part of a woman's brain was replaced with a chip to bring her back from a coma. The company had her spewing ads unless she upgraded to prime status. It was truly terrifying, but it's what the future and big money are capable of. Great article, John.
The trick is to use Ai to enhance, not to create with no human influence, no soul. As I tell my students: use the tools in your box; don't be the tools in your box.
I'm quite good at spotting AI writing here on Vocal. But I often fall prey to AI videos. They just look so real! So like you said, I'm sure TV shows and movies would all be written and generated by AI
Yep. It's worrying. But the germ of these ideas must still be generated by humans? The creativity still starts with us, at least...for now. Here's the hope that I hold onto - the wonderful Arts and Crafts movement grew as a result of the Industrial Revolution. AI is slick and it has its uses but it's no substitute for human endeavour. Maybe it's time for a simpler, less mercantile world and maybe a turning from this screen-based world is what's needed. AI for me is a turn-off. It's one of the reasons I've not been on here so often. It's also one of the reasons I've not published as much. I don't want what I create to be rapaciously trawled through for its content to be studied and emulated. But my biggest concern? I worry for my kids and what this world holds for them.
AI does not scare me at all. But, I’ve always been one to embrace technology and change. Life is progressive and continues to grow and move forward just as does technology. I think there is room in the future for both human writing and AI writing. AI is not gonna take over our human efforts. We are not going to become obsolete. AI is always only going to be a a tool. I think too many people are prematurely fearful of something that’s not really going to happen. Just like back at the end of 1999 we thought all the computers are going to crash and everybody’s gonna lose their money and ATM machines are going to go crazy and all this horrible stuff is going to happen. Well, it did not happen. Technology did not destroy us as we moved into the year 2000.
You’re not wrong and I hate it. I’ll take it one step further: fully tailored entertainment. Studios won’t even need to make movies/shows/books. Your smart device(s) will have a tailored algorithm to create content specifically for you. instantly.
I agree with most of what you say here, John. I believe AI is still lacking in the area of humor and satire but it’s getting there too. I often wonder what the corporations’ true end goal for AI is. If it is to displace people to cut on the labor costs, what are they going to do with an army of unemployed people who have no income, I.e. money to buy consumer products?
It goes to show that competition is dwindling. Fast. Corporations are joining the bandwagon, so they're not left in the dust. Sooner than later, our ability to make money for what we do will become a pastime. Or a rarity. It's sad and scary. I wish regulations for AI would have come at the start of it, but you're right, it's too late for that. It's here to stay. I do retain hope and know that our ideas are still better. AI may be able to beat us to the punch, but, for now, they can't outdo originality. Their ideas are borrowed. Scary stuff, John. I'm glad you shared it though.
Sobering sombre and markes me not especially given to conspiracies very concerned. Well written as ever and well put forward arguments.