Generative AI for Writers: Worth It?

In this video, I'm going to cover AI for writers and which tools are safe and ethical to use right now.
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[@ThatsJustMyBabyDaddy]

When I tell you that chat GPT has completely changed my writing journey!!! I use it as an idea generator and story organizer. It's like I have my own writers room full of the most intelligent, learned and creative minds money can buy, all at my fingertips. A writer or editor being afraid of AI will be surely left behind.

[@DaleLRoberts]

Great video! Glad to see I'm not the only one approaching this area with caution.

[@SDHuston]

I have been waiting for your thoughts and video on this!

[@CGFernandesOficial]

Great time we are in, so exciting. I’m playing around with ChatGPT, I use to zero draft my scenes, just give the prompts about the events, this helps to get me in writing mode faster. I’m looking forward to how editing tools will be much better, probably in some months from now.

[@stylllyfe]

Great info. Keep on Keeping on.

[@thelatentobserver121]

Great video, Michael. I agree with 100% of what you’re saying here. You mentioned some things I might try with regards to continuity in existing passages I have. Very cool.

[@heavymetalelf]

Michael, I really respect your take. I'm all in on generative AI. I think it's awesome, it's definitely the future. I appreciate your more nuanced position in comparison to some others I've seen and heard. Too many people think ChatGPT is literally stealing words from books authors have previously written. It's been described as a hyper-autocorrect and that's really more of what it is As an indie writer struggling to break into the field, I first thought ChatGPT was a godsend. It was gonna take my outlines and crank out my fully realized novels in record time. My struggle was over. But you are right. It's not ready for primetime. It is good for ideas and rough drafting and outlines and all the things you mentioned though. Thanks for the nuanced take. I was glad to see a video from you. I haven't seen any lately and I was worried maybe you quit making them. Take care!

[@journeytofull-timewriter3694]

Thanks for the information.

[@Baraborn]

There is a NEW NEW personal AI assistant for your personal computer called Vicuna. This AI allows the users to create a character to interact with. Imagine the realistic dialog that can be created when a sufficiently deep character is generated and interacted with! The possibilities are endless!

[@Jeremy-ij9bk]

Interesting stuff for sure.

[@WhatShouldMyArtistNameBe]

The best way I've used AI is basically as a substutute for a thesaurus . Especially in my song writing, but typing out what I want to say with the prompt, "how to say this more elegantly or sophisticated" haha

[@jerichodejesus3047]

Because of Undetectable AI Human Auto typer, I didn't have to stress about writing text in gdocs, it's save my time lol a true life saver.

[@Deniz_50]

I am using ai for generating character/landscape art to get inspiration from. And now you kinda convinced me to use it to get rid of writer's block and start writing again. And I am using it with learning coding.

[@susanam.826]

I've been using ChatGPT to brainstorm ideas, correct typos (and jazz up book descriptions :) ), and MidJourney to brainstorm characters and settings. Thank you for the video!

[@neopagan1976]

Thank you so much for this video, Micheal. I will take all of your well founded opinions under advisement. I’m currently using the regular Chat-Gpt 3.5 text generator for everything from the story outlining to the book description for my latest Sci-fi novel. I make sure that the text generator uses only the story synopsis, the ideas, the fictional settings and the fictional characters that I've already come up with on my own. There’s a way for writers to get these AI text generators to do that. It’s all in the wording of the prompts. I even go so far as generating full story scenes for my novel, I heavily edit the content of those AI generated scenes to ensure that they all fit with in the storyline of my novel and that they’re using only my story ideas and contain no fictional settings and fictional characters that I don’t immediately recognize. Only after I take care of all of that do I put the story scenes into my manuscript. It definitely pays to be extra careful.

[@gfunk425]

Hey Michael. Great content. 2 things on the AI art. 1. When Adobe makes Firefly available for customers it will be a game changer because the assets they use are their own and items within the public domain. While the lawsuits are flying I think Adobe will be mostly insulated. 2. I think creating items within MidJourney or Leonardo or whatever it depends on what your creating. Example if I'm creating a new urban fantasy book cover and I need a rain overlay or some other small asset like embers for a fire, a set of wings, etc. it would be fairly safe to use in this way. For creating small assets that are part of larger projects as opposed to saying "Create an urban fantasy book cover"

[@SDHuston]

I have similar feelings for all the technology as what you stated here. I also feel some of this AI will grow by leaps in the next few months. Technological achievements are speeding up. I also agree about being ethical. I used it to rewrite my blurb and make ad copy. I made a video on it and mentioned that I try to use the AI as ethically as possible when asking the AI to model the top 100 books in my category. I also used AI generated images from book lines in my full trilogy to include with my boxset (published last November), and I made it clear that the images were AI. Thanks for sharing your thoughts, and I look forward to what will happen next in this space!

[@AuthorLevelUp]

Exciting times! And yes, good for you for experimenting.

[@Iwasonceanonionwithnolayers]

I played with it for a wide variety of things. Made an outline based off of a description of one of my stories, some short stories, some research papers, a cover letter. I didn't use any of it. They were all missing the human element I bring to what I write. But I'm excited about AI. I understand the fear surrounding it but I think it's useless. This train isn't stopping whether you like it or not, so the only question is will you be on it or under it. 100% support the artists who seek compensation for the use of their work to create it.

[@thelatentobserver121]

I also use Midjourney to create character avatars, but don’t sell anything.

[@Reneekelley68]

Yep

[@holdthetruthhostage]

I would say look up sudwrite storyengine

[@joemoya9743]

I have learned that AI can effectively write complete and well written scenes (or partial scenes) IF you learn how to prompt the AI with appropriate information, style, form, expectations and examples.

[@blueskye2790]

Interesting, can you give an example of a prompt that works well? Haven't tried it with too much success in terms of writing good scenes.

[@joemoya9743]

@@blueskye2790 Prompts are only good if they reflect a particular update to what is already written by the AI. But, to get the AI to give you good starting points is to treat it like you would talking to a professional writer or editor. In other words, ask AI in a way exactly as if you were talking to a professional. Don't complicate the questions but do make certain you add examples and not simply descriptive words. Key (and detailed) descriptive words only come after you see the AI's response. This narrows down the AI's response. For example, you can ask it to write the same paragraph using dialogue. Then, you ask the AI to combine the two replies - dialogue plus paragraph form. There are many ways to do this, but the key is ask AI as if it was a real professional person where you constantly provide specific details, corrections, examples, and guidance. The AI gets better as you converse. Remember, you are roll playing with the AI.

[@joemoya9743]

@@blueskye2790 Here is a sample FIRST PROMPT (there are many other variations that have different levels of success with fewer words and examples): Your are a professional writer who specializes in taking novels and writing follow up books to create a series from the first novel. I am going to provide you with a brief description of the first novel and summary of the novels characters and their personalities. I will also provide short paragraphs from the book including the ending to obtain an overview of the writing style. I would like for you to write your best first two paragraphs of of the opening for a part 2 to the first novel. Do you understand the assignment?

[@joemoya9743]

Here is a sample reply after about 5 mins. of conversation with the AI. Riley wiped the blood from his knife and took a deep breath. The hitman lay lifeless on the ground, a pool of crimson slowly forming around his body. It had been a long time since Riley had to resort to killing, but he knew he had no choice. The hitman had been sent to finish the job that Riley had left unfinished years ago, and he couldn't risk his family's safety by letting him live. As he stood there, catching his breath, Riley couldn't help but wonder if this was just the beginning of a new wave of danger that was about to come crashing down on him and his loved ones. It gets faster as I stay in the conversation. BTW, I do edit the responses to better fit the story. But, typically less than 20-25% is changes. BTW, I used a version of this opening paragraph for a part 2 novel. The AI does a good job of knowing my writing style once I gave it examples and carry on long conversations.

[@MsMotherWolf]

I had to go back and find this video - kzbin.info/www/bejne/iGaco4yKespsidk The gal shares her experience with using AI to write a book, taking note to mention it's written with AI and how the AI can get repetitive and lacks a certain spark of creativity (my take from what she shares of its writing style). I have used the ChatGPT AI to help me with quick dungeon descriptions for my D&D games and brainstorming ideas, name and character description generators so I can get something done in 15 minutes versus hours. There is one book I am very serious about getting out there. I used the ChatGPT AI to help me with dull, dry and boring technical write ups. You absolutely must run any text an AI gives you against a plagiarism checker like Grammarly. there was indeed a lot of repetition at points with how the AI speaks to you. Once a section is checked against Grammarly and fact-checked, then you need to take it into a rephraser tool. The most infuriating part was a page of text I wrote that Grammarly flagged as plagiarism. Really? I wrote that part, not the AI. Rephraser tool and read it back to make sure it all makes sense. Especially to get your voice into the writing and shake out the AI. toss it back into Grammarly to check for plagiarism until it gives you the green light. The AI can get wonky in that it hallucinates and gives wrong information. There are reports that there is an increase in the hallucinatory moments AI can have and double down on giving incorrect information and creating false citations for sources. Fact Check everything. As an idea generator to help you through a writer's block moment, invaluable.

[@NnaemekaAmamasi]

Brother I ain't seen you in a while...how you been?

[@AuthorLevelUp]

Hanging in there!

[@themore-you-know]

I'm currently programming a new software for writers, like a Sudowrite 2.0 Generating so much content, I was getting the weird feeling at my grocery store that people are simulated... wait... is this a horror thriller from a prompt I wrote, or am I myself the response?

[@CGFernandesOficial]

Maybe you are AI hallucinating?

[@BruceConsidine]

AI is VERY limited. Writers will begin to understand its limitations when they try to use the tools, or read 50 gallon cans of story spam generated by misuse - overuse - trying to substitute AI for hard work and creativity. Look at the CGI fatigue going on in films nowadays from mile high piles of hastily heaped up VFX.

[@wesmcbride7644]

Does it devalue a story if readers think it was easy to create? I know some authors caution against telling readers that you wrote a book quickly. Is there a tipping point, where authors go from using tools to edit and research, to letting the computer write for them? I suppose my question is about reader perception. Is the perception that a human wrote a story important to a story's value? I've noticed a curious reaction in myself when it comes to AI art. I value art done by humans more--almost regardless of quality or style. That doesn't necessarily apply to a book cover as a sales tool, but it does apply to the value of the artwork by itself. I don't care if an AI artwork is "better" in some cases. I want the human connection. AI art is often interesting, but I don't find it connecting. Once I know, that is. Visual art has some built-in resilience against AI. A painter can always use physical paint on canvas. In fact, I've started appreciating this "analog" work more lately. You can't ever know with writing. We can't tell whether an author used AI or not. Over time, as AI writing matches the quality of human writing, could it devalue all stories? What is a writer's resilience against this?

[@DeusExMachina50]

In the short term, AI will replace book cover designers and audio book voice actors. Long term, it may even replace fiction writers.

[@DeusExMachina50]

Artificial Intelligence will have a significant impact on any type of non-fiction writing, including journalism and copywriting. But I believe it will be a long time before AI can write fiction on par with humans.

[@neopagan1976]

I don't buy the claim that AI will replace human fiction writers. I believe that no matter how advanced AI gets, it will never possess the ability to replace the creative and imaginative abilities of the human mind. I think, however, that AI can complement and enhance these human attributes.

[@DeusExMachina50]

@@neopagan1976 I thought the same thing about art and photography, but look at Midjourney. Anything is possible with AI.

[@neopagan1976]

@@DeusExMachina50 - Well, I'm not all that familliar with the photgraphy side of it, so you may indeed have a point on that end of it. But i'm pretty sure that all of us who are fiction novelist are completely safe.

[@DeusExMachina50]

@@neopagan1976 Yes, using words to chronicle the human condition is far more complex than many realize. As with all computer programs, garbage in, garbage out.

[@devernepersonal3636]

AI is the devil

[@yzfool6639]

The devil is in its details though.

[@jeremykermott537]

My day job is in an Information Technology Support role. And so, my first tests of Chat-GPT have been to see how well it does at finding IT troubleshooting procedures. I've been comparing how the results compare with the same searches that I have found (or labored to find) via Google. In two out of my first three tests, it saved me a lot of time. The list of troubleshooting steps that the AI returned were mostly correct, and I was able to revise the results with just a few minutes of research. The third inquiry didn't pan out, even after several attempts of repeating the request with additional criteria. However, because I had to expand my thinking on the problem that I was troubleshooting, it actually did help me. I think that I was able to find the solution on my own much more quickly, as a result.