If you’re a blogger, Artificial Intelligence is scouring the internet, searching for content ideas, and borrowing content from your blog and mine. According to a Pro Blogger Newsletter, AI blogging software can perform tasks, “… such as optimizing blog posts for search engines, finding content ideas, and curating content from other sources.”
That means busy bloggers are programing their AI software to look for your ideas and put them into a hodgepodge of thoughts to create a new blog post.
Until now, I thought AI was far into the future and its arrival, when it happened, would affect companies, technology, and space travel—not writers. I’ve written about artificial intelligence in my books and it’s throughout my stories. My characters have AI chips implanted in their brains, but that was supposed to happen in 2050 or 60.
There’ve been a lot of questions about AI eliminating human writers, but the question remains, will AI have the empathy and emotion that humans bring to the story, the poem, or the think piece? Yes, and no. If a blogger’s AI search yields this particular article, the bot may extract a line or two from it to add to the bloggers post about how AI will impact the future. Anything I’ve said in that vein may end up in my colleague’s post.
What I doubt AI can do is interject the passion we put into our writing. Until they program AI to feel, I’m going to hope writers are safe.
I’d like AI to remain the artificial intelligence of my imagination. Something we could manage, control and get used to. Instead, this thing is growing by leaps and bounds. AI can write books and novels and generate them much faster than we can.
Before we worry that any lay person can take this simple route and become a prolific writer with tons of adoring fans, listen to Darren Rowse, founder and editor of ProBlogger Blog Tips.
“I know this scares a lot of writers. I spoke this week with several freelance writers who worry that their time as writers might end. I agree AI is going to take some of their work (and probably already is), but I think that, as human writers, we can create unique work.”
Next week, I’ll begin a series on Artificial Intelligence and its effects on the arts. I’ll try to discover where this technology is headed.
I hope you’ll weigh-in with questions you’d like me to explore; and please share information you’ve garnered. Is AI good or bad? Have you tried the blogging software? How do you use it?
Thanks for pointing me towards this great article. 🙂
A few months ago I wrote a post about the AI, Midjourney, being used to create a contest winning image. At that point I hadn’t even heard of ChatGPT. Now, AI and AI created content seems to be everywhere.
I haven’t used any blogging programs or image creating programs, but I /think/ I stumbled on an AI created blog post not that long ago. It was grammatically correct, and at first glance seemed to be about ‘something’, but after the first paragraph I realised that there was something very wrong with the writing: it didn’t actually ‘say’ anything of substance.
In hindsight, I wonder if that blog post was an early experiment with blogging AI? I honestly don’t know, but if it was, it wasn’t very good.
I write scifi so AI has been a part of my thinking for a long time, but I know enough about how the human brain works to know that our thinking, our creativity, results from the interaction of both electrical stimulus and chemical stimulus. The two work together. That’s what sets all living things apart, so AI can copy and re-arrange, but it can’t create, not in the way we think of creation.
Unfortunately, the Industrial Revolution showed that most humans don’t care whether a shirt was created by a machine or a human, they just want the shirt…as cheaply as possible. That same mindset will see a great many ‘crafts’ taken over by AI. Hand crafted, boutique items will still remain, but they will be expensive. And again, most people won’t care enough to buy them. 🙁
I’ve not tried the AI software. I think it’s a bad idea and truthfully the whole idea just scares the crap out of me.
Who are you telling, Penny? It is certainly a bad idea. An ABC ‘News This Morning’ report says that it took Netflix 3 years to reach a million viewers. It took the AI software writing program, ChatGPT 3 days to reach that same number. Thanks for commenting.
Reblogged this on SOMETIMES and commented:
I see the Reblog button, and will take the liberty to post this article to my blog, SOMETIMES, Looking forward to the series on AI. This must be serendipity at work, my daughter and I have long been into AI, and will find your series very interesting. Thank you.
” … my daughter and I have long been into AI … ” When you say “been into” do you mean studying or have you tried the software? Thanks for the reblog.
I should have said “interested in” AI. Haven’t tried the software. Looked at Chat GPT just yesterday, having not heard of it before, and then today CNN had a segment on GPT. How’s that for cutting edge? I have been blogging since 2011, but recently have been a slacker. Thanks for the REBLOG permission.
I enjoyed reading your excellent article on AI. The thought is chilling, but eminently intriguing!
Grandmama, thanks for commenting. AI certainly is chilling and intriguing.
As teachers, we are already seeing students use AI software to try to complete their essays and research papers. My son showed me how it works. I watched it create an article in minutes. It created a poem in seconds and then create a second poem on the same topic in a few more seconds when I asked for a new one. It also created a great short story about a very specific topic that I gave it about my nephew winning a poetry contest. It’s a bit scary and sad.
Many teachers are now requiring students to write their essays and research papers in class so they can monitor their writing. In my case, I teach students who struggle with reading and writing, so I know right away when the work they turn in is their own work or someone (or something) else’s.
There is a guy from Princeton who has created an app to identify when an AI has been used, and he says it’s pretty good at identifying it.
I have no doubt that wannabe authors will use AI to create a story they can then edit and add more to it to make it sound more authentic. It’s very sad. I look forward to your next post on this, Linda.
Yvette M Calleiro 🙂
http://yvettemcalleiro.blogspot.com
Yvette, I can see how this could be a challenge for teachers and students. Your examples are just the kinds of stories I’m looking for. Thank you for sharing them. I’m also looking at if and how AI is at the root of the latest big tech layoffs. Thanks for your comment.
In a variety of areas, AI is progressing more quickly than anticipated. I have never used blogging software. Overall, I find AI fascinating and am following the progress being made.
Karen, there have been times when I wished I could hire out my blogging, but I never considered AI. I felt like that was cheating. Maybe it’s not. Maybe I’m just out of step with the times. I’m watching the progress, too. Thanks for commenting.
I agree. It would feel wrong. Although I can’t imagine using AI for a blog, I’m sure others do.