Ethical use of AI by writers

Writing has already been through several electronic revolutions, and almost no one treated them as a threat to literature. Electric typewriters sped the work up. Word processors, from WordStar onwards, gave writers instant word counts and spellchecks. The internet put facts, maps and research within reach; Google Earth let a novelist walk along a street they had never seen. Plotting software and built-in thesauruses followed. Nobody argued that any of this hollowed out a writer’s skill.

AI does much of the same work, only faster, and sometimes better. It can suggest names, traits, conflicts and plot turns. It can flag weak passages and offer alternatives. That is uncomfortable for some, but it is still not much more than a step on from a word processor underlining a misspelling. What is not acceptable is the other use: books written and illustrated with almost no human hand in them. Writers should still be the ones writing about human experience.

Used ethically, though, AI can have a place in the creative process. Mapping a plot before you start is fine; cards, dice and spreadsheets have done that for years. Building characters is fine too. I used to offer a downloadable questionnaire for that; an AI site called Dossier now does the same job in more detail. Another of my sites, Nomina, does for names what an earlier book of mine did, only with more options. A trailer or a promo site is fair game as well.

I have no objection to AI in research and to help polish a manuscript. The beginning and the end of the process of writing can benefit from this kind of help. But the bit in the middle, the bit where we actually write the thing – that needs to be human powered all the way.

This website, Storywell, can help you at the start of the process. It can give you a road map. But it will not be the driver: you are in the driving seat. For some, even an AI road map is a step too far. Perhaps it’s uncomfortably close to being a literary equivalent of painting by numbers. That may be true. We all differ in our views as to how much AI input is too much. My goal is to preserve the middle where we do the work that counts. You must decide for yourself where you think the limits of AI should be. If you feel comfortable using the tools this website has to offer, then go ahead. Frankly, this site is incredible. The tools are unbelievably powerful. I hope they help you to create a book that you can be proud of.