Let’s be real—AI is the Swiss Army knife of the digital world. It can be fantastic for ensuring a writer doesn’t confuse “their” with “there,” and it is fully capable of conjuring up stunning images that can jazz up any blog post. However, when it comes to the gritty task of book writing? That’s a hard pass; a proper epic fantasy should be penned by hand, or at least on a computer keyboard.
My debut book was edited in the traditional way back in 2014, long before AI could offer its two cents. When AI emerged, I wanted to embrace it—and I have, albeit selectively. That’s because my IT side thinks this is the greatest thing since sliced bread, but my creative side bleeds for the countless artists and creators whose work may have been used to train AI algorithms. In this debate, I feel satisfied knowing that my work will be loved or hated based on my own imagination. Yet, I will not judge others for their personal decisions. That is up to the audience to decide.
I say this because I remain optimistic that a compromise, or perhaps a middle-of-the-road stance, may eventually become less controversial and more accepted. I remember paying thousands in 2014 to have my book professionally edited, only to have another editor charge me even more to completely undo all the changes the original editor suggested. It was a great lesson in perspective and how each editor infuses their own likes and dislikes into their work.
So when AI came about, I decided to have some fun and see what it would suggest. What I discovered is that letting AI’s little digital hands copy-edit some paragraphs shows that AI still has a way to go. It’s terrible at understanding dialogue and the emotions I try to convey through my characters, and it’s grossly formal in its writing style. So while I remain optimistic that AI will eventually help writers smooth out the edges of a human-created story, in the case of my trilogy, you’re stuck with me and the adventures and misadventures that fill the pages from my own chaotic, unfettered imagination and I will let AI do what it does well, proof read my blogs.