Recently I read several stories which I really enjoyed… and then found out that they were written in collaboration with an LLM (Large Language Model) AI program. I know the author well. It surprised me that not only did I consider the tales very creative and insightful, but I recognized the distinctive voice of the writer in them. I had to reassess all my preconceived notions about the use of AI in artistic endeavors. I wonder now: Is AI the hazard to creativity that many warn against or could it be an avenue towards opening the mind to new ways of thinking and creating?
I suspect this is a paradox where threat and possibility exist at the same time. Perhaps it’s too soon to catastrophize the end of art, just because there’s a developing player on the field which no one understands. As my writer friend pointed out, we really don’t know how human consciousness or creativity work either.
An aspect of this question I hadn’t considered before is the different ways people utilize LLMs. On the one hand, even I use AI for technical aid in spelling and grammar, running my compositions through a program to check for errors and improvements before publishing. I compared this minimal approach to a piece completely written by AI, as a recent Atlantic article by Adam Kirsch reported. Here, the author simply told the program to write a story and gave it a subject and a “style” (for example, in Regency style). Clearly, the work belonged to the machine.
But as my writer friend explained his process for working with the LLM, a middle ground revealed a true collaboration. He seems more like the director of a play or movie, suggesting different scenes and characters, then carefully considering what, out of the variety of ideas suggested, to use. It reminded me of another acquaintance who worked with a co-author writing romance novels. I often envied her back and forth conversations with her partner about possible storylines and character traits. She had a colleague at hand to help her figure out all those knotty problems that I, as a solitary author, must stew about on my own.
I won’t be using AI for anything other than technical editing anytime soon. For one thing, the process of ‘stewing’ is one of the reasons I write. It forces me to know my own thoughts and emotions. I’m loath to give that work up, even though it’s frustrating and painful at times. But I am ready to appreciate my writer friend’s talent for collaborating with the millions of minds involved in producing an LLM program. I suspect there’s room in our universe for both kinds of creativity.
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