I Am Become AI
The Destroyer of Creativity
After fifteen years of diligently writing fiction, you’ve made it! Your Agent just pitched your science-fiction book to a publishing company called Comets & Constellations, and they’ve decided to publish. Your book: Echoes of the Celestial ends up being an overnight success! Congratulations! Even George Lucas has some kind words to say about your book.
Your days of dealing with rude customers yelling out their demands are long gone. Remember that boss who wouldn’t let you work full-time or wouldn’t give you a wage increase? Now that miserable place called Whole Paycheck is in the rear view mirror.You’re able to pay the bills and provide for your family. You’ve never had any money in savings, but now you’re nearly out of debt with $10,000 in the bank.
Then, in 2015 a technology company by the name of Open AI releases GPT-1. It’s an AI that isn’t great at writing fiction. The stories are nonsensical, repetitive, lack character development, and plot. Then, in 2023 a writing friend of yours calls you about Chat GPT-4. He urges you to put in a writing prompt to see what happens. You input prompts that involve a draft from your upcoming book: Star Knights into the AI prompt to see what happens, and you’re impressed.
Though, there is a certain emotional depth that is missing from the AI, and you think it’s easy to tell the difference between what AI writes and what you write. Suddenly, one day you see an email from the Author’s Guild. They’re asking you to sign a letter that would be sent to tech companies. You see that there is a spot on the form where you explain your concerns about AI. After doing some research you understand how machine learning works.
You state: “These tech companies trained their AI based off our work without permission. To what end? I am concerned that these companies will use what we’ve created to create a machine that can successfully emulate the prose of any author it chooses!”
You lean back in your chair. You’re confident that your career is protected. After all, because you’re a writer and therefore obsessed with research you read:
“According to the Bureau of Economic Analysis, in 2022, the creative economy of the United States represents 1.10
trillion of the US GDP. The creative economy employs an estimated workforce of 5.2 million.”