What if? It's the basis of many stories. We ask. We ponder. We wonder.
On Tuesdays I throw one out there. What if? It may be speculative. It may stem from something I see. It may be something I pull from the news.
Make of it what you will. If a for instance is not specified, interpret that instance as you wish. And if the idea turns into a story, I'd appreciate a thank you in the acknowledgements 😉
While perusing Twitter, I stumbled across this:
If you aren't in the SF/F industry this tweet might not look like a big deal.
— Craig Shackleton (he/him) (@ShackletonCI) February 20, 2023
This is a crisis.
Clarkesworld is the fastest/most efficient publisher for responding to story submissions (also one of the best-paying).
They have been overwhelmed by AI-generated spam. https://t.co/GcnBumt65n
Uh oh...
What if we could just request AI to write us a book we want to read (as opposed to looking through the books available and picking one)?
I'm not hoping for this sort of future. Many of us are writers, and this is a nightmare. But sometimes you just want a specific kind of story, and AI could write it? I've got lots of conflicting thoughts on this.
I have read a lot of science fiction and fantasy, including more than a few stories involving AI. It’s scary, and I’m not sure I’m comfortable with the idea,
ReplyDeleteIt would definitely hurt us writers out here.
DeleteI don't think that AI is ready, however now that I think about it, if AI could write a story with the same cadence and sound of my favorite dead author. I would be interested in that book.
ReplyDeleteMaybe not quite yet, but it sounds like it's getting there.
DeleteI've been reading SF (and a little fantasy now and then) for 60 years and have read stories set in a lot of future settings. The future has arrived. It isn't going to be pretty. I can so easily see the scenario in your question happening. So what happens to human written stories - will they disappear? I'm not sure but it's going to be traumatic, whatever ends up happening.
ReplyDeleteIf we think they're turning out dreck now...
DeleteSadly AI can write some convincing stuff already.
ReplyDeleteThat's what I'm hearing.
DeleteI would think for it to be specific enough, we'd have to know what happens in it, and then we may as well write it ourselves. It could only give us what someone has already written, and put into it. So, nothing original. Like taking all the plots and mixing them together. Seems like it would be a book of thousands of plagiarism cases!
ReplyDeleteThat's probably true. But as someone who has attempted to write, writing it yourself isn't quite that easy. Although, if you knew enough and had the AI flesh it out...
DeleteWell I don't know. I've met some flesh and blooders who could pass for machines. Maybe some of the AI robots will one day be more human than some humans. I don't care who writes a good book, really. Right now I'm reading Andrea Camilleri Inspector Montalbano books and oh my how I love them.
ReplyDeleteAI becoming more human-like leads to a different sort of question...
DeleteI just wished I could go in a store and the first book I pull is what I want to read@
ReplyDeleteThat's what we need an AI for, to find us the book we want to read.
DeleteI have thought of this. I am not a fan of all this A.I stuff going on. It's like "1984" but without the people. Or "1984" meets "The Matrix" or something. Not a fan.
ReplyDeleteI'm hopeful that things won't go terribly wrong. But we've all read this story before...
DeleteI never would want that to happen. I can choose what I want to read. I like to think for myself.
ReplyDeleteThis would be your choice, too.
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