John Warner, a writer and college professor, does a Deep Dive into ChatGPT and related Artificial Intelligence programs in his new book, More Than Words: How to Think About Writing in the Age of AI (2025). “Large language models [like ChatGPT] do not ‘write.’ They generate syntax. They do not think, feel, or experience anything. They are fundamentally incapable of judging truth, accuracy, or veracity.” (p. 18) Or care about truth, accuracy, or veracity. But they are very good at generating words.
In addition to being a word generator, AI can be used to scam the innocent. “An AI-generated book, The Evolution of Jazz: A Century of Improvisation and Innovation by Frank Gioia and Ted Alkyer, came into the world. The dual authors were designed to take advantage of the fact that Ted Gioia (The History of Jazz) and Alkyer ( publisher of Downbeat magazine) are two noted jazz experts…. Because both Gioia and Alkyer have their own public platforms and were able to make a fuss, the scam was exposed and the books will pulled from sale…” (p. 189)
So Artificial Intelligence programs can “write” fake books. All too often, the scammers using AI end up making money before they’re found out–or continue to operate their schemes indefinitely. They certainly don’t have to pay the AI program to generate more books.
“In 2021, Brandon Sanderson, a best-selling author of science fiction and fantasy, announced on the Kickstarter platform that he was setting out to raise $1 million as a crowdfunding effort for four yet-to-be-written novels. By the time the campaign was over, Sanderson had raised over $41 million.” (p. 198). Is the the future for writers in the Age of AI? Do you use Artificial Intelligence? Are you as worried about the Artificial Intelligence future as I am? GRADE: A
TABLE OF CONTENTS:
- Introduction — 1
- PART ONE
- Chapter 1 Automation, Not Intelligence — 15
- Chapter 2 Stop, Now, Before It’s Too Late! — 29
- Chapter 3 A Personal History of the Automation of Writing — 43
- PART TWO
- Chapter 4 Only Humans Write — 55
- Chapter 5 Writing Is Thinking — 61
- Chapter 6 Writing Is Feeling — 75
- Chapter 7 Writing Is a Practice — 89
- Chapter 8 Life with a Writing Practice — 103
- Chapter 9 Reading and Writing — 113
- PART THREE
- Chapter 10 Reading, Writing, and Robots — 127
- Chapter 11 Here Come the Teaching Machines (Again) — 133
- Chapter 12 Writing in the Classroom of Today (and Tomorrow) — 147
- Chapter 13 Reading Like a Writer — 165
- Chapter 14 Content vs. Writing — 179
- Chapter 15 On the Future of Writing for Money — 191
- Chapter 16 My Digital Doppelgänger — 211
- PART FOUR
- Chapter 17 A Framework for Action: Resist, Renew, Explore — 225
- Chapter 18 Resist — 231
- Chapter 19 Renew — 247
- Chapter 20 Explore — 265
- Conclusion The Journey Never Ends — 277
- Acknowledgments — 281
- Notes — 283
- Index — 297
“They do not think, feel, or experience.” Those traits aren’t unique to AI. In a sense, we wouldn’t be much worse off under HAL than we are under those goons who ganged up on Zelenskyy on Friday.
Fred, the ambush of Zelensky in the Oval Office last Friday was another Dark Day for the U.S. Trump and Vance are destroying our alliances and snuggling up to Putin. What a debacle!
We should all be worried: we’re outsourcing our imaginations, our creativity, and our ability to think through thorny, complex situations: some of the very traits that make us human. I know I’ve told this story before, but to me it’s a great metaphor for AI: when my brother & I were kids, we were gifted a large quantity of different colored plasticine (modeling clay for the non-Brits or people who have never listened to “Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds”). In order to have more clay to play with, I suggested my brother combine all our clay together—giving us a lot of clay, but only in a grayish-brown glob. After we finished playing, my brother looked at me and asked if he could get all his colors back, and I had to explain that all the colors were now gone into that big ball of muddy color (this was the pre-Play-Doh era, the colors all merged). This, to me, is what AI does: it takes all the color & vibrancy of human creativity and blends it into a huge bland mass with nothing of true originality or spirit.
As I say frequently these days, I’m glad I’m old.
Deb, that’s a great story! Anyone who has seen THE TERMINATOR and THE MATRIX knows where this Artificial Intelligence trend is heading. As far as I can see, no one working in AI is establishing any “guard rails” to protect humans. Even Isaac Asimov programmed his robots to protect human life instead of threatening it.
Trump and Musk: “Trust us. We don’t need no guardrails.”
Right.
Jeff, I was just reading about a woman suing Elon for getting her pregnant. His response: “I want to make you pregnant again!” This would be Musk’s 13 kid.
Deb, I would never have agreed! I was always a loner, and more than once, when given a choice of one small toy (or whatever) of my own, or a bigger one I would share with my brother (exactlya year younger), I ALWAYS chose the small one of my own. And it wasn’t just because I was careful and he was destructive.
George, we have so much more to be worried about, like surviving the next four years, as we show our fealty to Putin more every day, as with Hegseth ordering a halt to cyber attacks on Russia, even as they increase their attacks on us, encouraged by Useful Idiot #1.
In a way, though, this is the perfect time for our future AI Overlords to begin their takeover, what with the King of Fake News in the White House encouraging it.
“They are fundamentally incapable of judging truth, accuracy or veracity.”
Perfect!
To quote the late Bill Crider, “We’re doomed, doomed.”
Jeff, I wonder what our future AI Overlords will make of Trump and Vance…
Because AI will only generate what it’s been fed, I’m sure it will view those two as paragons of truth & light.
Deb, I see AI as the next step in weapons of war. Intelligent drones with bombs will be overwhelming defenses. Hundreds of them at a time…
So many dangers being ignored in the pursuit of more and more profits. Yes, AI will (and in some cases, is) lead us around like sheep as democracy crumbles. Perhaps worse is the long-term effect. As Deb said, AI will only generate what it has been fed — the stuff that is already there; as we rely more and more on AI, we lose our ability to think outside the box, to create, to move beyond our current station. That, to me, can spell the end of the human race. So sayeth Gloomy Gus.
Jerry, several of my colleagues who are still teaching at the College are Gloomy Guses, too, as they try to determine whether students wrote the assigned term paper…or ChatGPT.
Just this past week I spoke to a woman who works at the University of Michigan writing grant proposals and she told me she has been repeatedly admonished for refusing to use AI to write all of her proposals and emails because she is “wasting time.” I also heard from someone whose mom is an elementary school teacher and the entire faculty was told by the school principal that students are using AI to do homework and that it’s a fact of life so shut up and deal with it. No guidelines, no strategy, just pass the kids down the production line.
Byron, my College professor friends are furious at the Administrators who could care less if students cheat with ChatGPT and other AI programs. As long as the students (or their parents) pay the tuition…
When we got our new phones last month, one of the “features” they were touting was Galaxy AI. I don’t know what I’m supposed to use it for, but my fingers are in my ears and my eyes are closed.
lalalalala
😱
Jeff, Apple is developing AI “features” for their next iPhone. Microsoft is spending billions on AI. So is GOOGLE. The results are going to eliminate jobs and create cookie-cutter written responses.
And more somewhat related fun:
https://www.them.us/story/dolly-parton-indiana-republicans-imagination-library-funding-cut