USING AI SOFTWARE TO WRITE

Should you use AI to write your Novel?

Artificial Intelligence (AI) refers to any computer program capable of learning, adapting, and producing content based on what information it is fed. AI effectively has the ability to think and make decisions based on what it is provided. In recent years, AI has generated buzz in artistic communities as programmers started developing programs to create digital images indistinguishable from human artwork.

While most of the focus is on drawing, AI artists are appearing in other fields, including writing. In the past, AI writing seemed impossible because there was too much nuance. AI was capable of generating text and following a loose structure, and even following grammatical rules, but the stories themselves rarely made sense. The longer the story, the more the AI struggled. However, with the growth of AI, there are now programs capable of writing stories. While this may initially seem worrying to writers, there are some important caveats to consider.

Can AI Write Novels

Whether AI is capable of writing novels is a difficult question to answer. Technically, AI technology has advanced to the point where a program can generate a perfectly coherent story with a beginning, middle, and end. The biggest issue facing AI writing is it cannot necessarily create compelling and engaging storylines.

There are also logistical issues to consider. As of writing, one of the top writing AIs, GPT-3, is only available to limited subscribers. The program also cost several million dollars to develop. Writing AI is also geared towards specific types of writing. While it can be used to produce fictional stories, many developers believe it is better suited for generating formal papers. For example, researchers can take all of their data and enter it into an AI program, with the AI producing a paper that might otherwise take several weeks to complete due to how long it takes to reference all the data.

How it Works

AI writing cannot generate content without some kind of input. AI software learns based on the data it is provided. Many marketing companies are experimenting with using AI to generate marketing slogans and even blog posts. The company feeds all the relevant information into the software, which then uses a learning algorithm to create content. The process is similar to human writers studying literary works to get a better idea of how to write their own stories.

While most of the focus with AI writing relates to business and research, there are some practical uses for authors. One author performed an experiment where he entered the outline of his first book into GPT-3. The AI was able to make suggestions on the story and even guide certain plot elements, but it struggled to come up with unique ideas.

How AI Software can Assist Writers

More authors are turning towards AI as an assistant to help write their books. Writing AI can take your ideas and present possible openings, and even provide multiple prompts. You can also ask the AI questions about where to go with the story. If you are looking to cut down on your story, there are paraphrasing elements that go over your text and make suggestions on how to compress your writing and make it more digestible to readers.

You can also use AI as a way to come up with characters. You can enter several traits you want your characters to have or even provide a loose outline of the story you want to tell, and the AI will produce detailed descriptions, including physical characteristics, how the character behaves, and their relation to other characters in the story.

An AI assistant can also help with editing. You can upload an already-written story into the generator and have the program scan your chapters for consistency, in addition to checking for the usual spelling and grammar errors. One example a developer provided was writing a story where the beginning involved a precise description of a vehicle. In a later chapter, the developer wrote about the vehicle again but used a different color descriptor. The AI was able to note the change in color and highlight this as a consistency error and even suggested changing it to the color from the first description.

Pros and Cons of AI Writing

For many writers, the best use of AI writing is a way to take their ideas and structure them into a coherent story. How much writing the AI does is entirely based on what you want from the program. While some writers are comfortable letting the program do all the heavy lifting, many will take the generated content and then make changes to give the work a unique voice.

Cost is a big downside of AI writing. Because the technology is still new, many of the most reliable services are expensive. While there are cheaper alternatives, these programs are not as sophisticated and require more work from the writer. You may ultimately save time with the writing process but end up spending even more time editing.