The Problem With AI Writing

...and why it sucks.

Photo by Tara Winstead: https://www.pexels.com/photo/robot-pointing-on-a-wall-8386440/

Greetings, I am the mighty, Master Voluminous. Teacher, commentator and most importantly--to you--storyteller.

You know what I love most about the art of storytelling? It's being able to draw from my personal experiences or the lived experiences of the people around me to make even my most fantastical narratives feel more real.

Which brings us to the subject of this essay: 

AI and Why It Sucks At Writing. 

Now, before the tech bros get mad, I'm not staunchly anti-AI. I do however think there should be clear-cut regulation around what it is and how it can be used, preferably by lawmakers who are younger than the age of 45. 

Artificial Intelligence as a Writing Tool

Photo by Andrea Piacquadio: https://www.pexels.com/photo/woman-draw-a-light-bulb-in-white-board-3758105/

I've spoken about AI in the past and basically laughed off the notion that writers (good writers) have anything to worry about in regards to the machines completely replacing us. I also remarked on how fun it is to play around with ChatGPT and the like. It's a great tool for:

• Generating concepts and ideas 
• Refining your world-building 
• Critiquing your work and making suggestions

Where it fell flat was when I asked it to write full stories. More specifically, follow-up chapters in stories I had already written (and published).

I'd drop a few chapters and tell it to write the next one, out of pure curiosity, expecting it to pay attention to the established sequence of events, and the personalities and speech patterns of the characters. How wrong I was...

Plot points, physical descriptions, and first and/or last names would be forgotten or changed; speaking styles and accents would be ignored; abilities would be sidestepped, and character personalities would either be all over the place or heavily toned down. 

Jaya Choppra, from Itara, who is an irredeemable monster throughout, just randomly start regretting her actions; Commissioner Kintu, from the Vatour Series, a corrupt, manipulative bully would become the most straight-laced cop you've ever seen; Ines from Hunting The Virago, who is borderline feral, mostly mute, and can only speak/understand Spanish, will suddenly speak perfect English and hack into complex computer systems to escape capture!

But what annoyed me most, were the elements that it would try and introduce which were just paint-by-the-numbers, boring collections of tropes: 

• Empty side characters and antagonists 
• Fight scenes that don't make sense in context
• Weak moral lectures 
• Generically spooky sequences
• Stock standard cryptic dialogue

The Ultimate Weakness of AI 

Photo by Pavel Danilyuk: https://www.pexels.com/photo/elderly-man-thinking-while-looking-at-a-chessboard-8438918/

AI has a HUGE problem with Unoriginality.

Now, the loudest defenders of AI will say "There are no original ideas, so what's the difference?" and they would be correct. 

Under the light of the sun, nothing is new. This is why I want you to go back to the very beginning of this essay and re-read the second paragraph. 

There's a keyword there: Experiences.

AI has no lived experiences to draw from because it isn't alive and doesn't interact with or observe people in meaningful ways. 

Even if it could, it couldn't really do anything with that information, because it can't think and imagine in the way people do. If you want examples, you can simply look at some...

Great Authors and Their Experiences

Harry Potter isn't the most innovative fantasy story of all time, but what made the tragedies in Harry's life feel real were the tragedies in J. K. Rowling's life at the time, including the loss of her mother. 

Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone by J. K. Rowling (First published,1997)

J. R. R. Tolkien's background in education, his experiences in World War I and his Catholic faith allowed him to craft one of the most influential stories of all time, The Lord of the Rings.

The Fellowship of the Ring (The Lord of the Rings Part 1) by J. R. R. Tolkien (First published, 1954)

The titular child-eating monster's alter-ego from IT, Pennywise the Dancing Clown came about because Stephen King felt uncomfortable sitting next to a man dressed as Ronald McDonald on a plane.

IT by Stephen King (First published, 1986)

Superman was created in 1938⎯⎯5 years after the Nazis took control of Germany and 1 year before World War II⎯⎯by Jerry Seigel and Joe Shuster, two Jewish men of German descent.

Action Comics #1 (Published, 1938)

And if you ever wanted to know Akira Toryama's opinion of real estate agents, as well as his editor, look no further than arguably Dragon Ball's greatest villain, Lord Frieza. 

Dragon Ball Vol. 25, Chapter 296, The Transformation by Akira Toriyama (First published, 1990)

I don't mean to compare myself to these people, that's for you to decide, but I will use examples from my own writing.

The observations and the testimonies from my now-16 years living in Johannesburg are what inspired the events of the Vatour Series with Vatour himself being a response to that.

Vatour: Feel free... to DIE by Gift C Enyadike Jr (First published, 2020)

Vatour: Law and Order by Gift C Enyadike Jr (Published, 2024)

Jaya Choppra's characterisation in Itara came about due to my frustration with the "strong female characters" that have been plaguing modern media (a different topic for a different time), with Jaya acting as a parody of that.

Itara by Gift C Enyadike Jr (First published, 2021)

Rufus The Clown was an apology for my lifelong and completely unwarranted hatred of clowns, combined with my love of squash-and-stretch cartoons and superheroes.

Rufus The Clown by Gift C Enyadike Jr (First published, 2020)

Honour Thine Mother was inspired by my maternal Ogba roots, my Christian faith and the relationship I have with my mother.

Honour Thine Mother by Gift C Enyadike Jr (First published, 2020)

Even the pen name, Gift C Enyadike Jr is because I share a name with my father. It's an aspect of our relationship that I've always been proud to share with anyone interested in knowing. Which is funny, because he didn't like the idea of me being called "Junior".

The Future of AI Writing

The point I'm trying to get across is that unless AI chatbots can live and think like human beings, the writing simply will not improve and "writers" who sit back and let the machine do all the work are all but begging for ridicule, which I neither condemn nor condone.

Of course, the future is unwritten and that "unless" could become an "until". 

When it does, we'll be having a very different conversation...

Let me know your thoughts below 👇