Ever since ChatGPT came on the scene, there has been this question about the validity of being human authored. Let's face it, ChatGPT made it so easy to write entire novels in a matter of minutes.

Initially, the quality of the writing that came out of the AI-generative algorithms was questionable at best, with many sentences that didn't really make much sense. But in the years since the technology first came on the scene, the quality of the writing has significantly improved.

As each day passes, systems like ChatGPT are improving. There is no doubt in my mind that a day will come when an AI-generated story will be of a similar quality to what I can write myself. Perhaps that day is already here. But with the chaos that is involved with the questionable nature of the material used to train these AI programs, human-authored works are building a strong voice.

It's time to take a closer look at this situation and explain why I'm never going to let AI write my stories (and blogs) for me. And it's not just for copyright reasons.

I do use AI-powered tools

Before I get too carried away with this argument, I need to point out that I do use AI-powered tools.

I use ProWritingAid (a program like Grammarly) to help me with the copyediting and grammar stuff, because there are far too many grammar rules that I would totally get lost without some automated system to help me. But this system doesn't make the changes for me. I still have to approve the suggested changes… and some suggestions just make me blink.

To this day, I still don't understand why (or how) ProWritingAid decided it was a good idea to change "I was pleasantly surprised" to "I pleasantly surprised me was pleasantly." I know some writers suggest writing while drunk, but ProWritingAid was definitely dipping into the cyber-alcohol that day.

I use Microsoft Dictate sometimes to dictate my blog posts, particularly if my hands are hurting that day. This program will automatically put in the punctuation. But it often gets the punctuation wrong, insisting on putting a fullstop in the middle of a sentence, just because I chose to take a breath or paused to think of the right word. And sometimes, it struggles with my accent. And swearing… Well… Sometimes it will happily swear, but other times, it insists on writing ****. And we won't discuss the editing issues that often result from the mess.

But when the writing has to happen and my body is rebelling, I need to use the tools that will help when I can.

Within my editing process for my own writing, I've taken to using the AI voices that are associated with the Read Aloud features in MS Word. They are actually pleasant to listen to, even if they make me laugh because they are sooo cheery. But the system also mispronounces the odd word—and according to those systems, the medical device known as an IV is to be called a four. But hey, it picks up a lot of typos, clunky sentences, and the odd missing comma.

But not once have I considered using the AI-generative tools to actually write a passage for me. I know of others who have (including my husband and son), but I won't. And there are many reasons for why I won't.

Copyright is one issue

I would be silly if I didn't address the elephant in the room. There are some ethical concerns over the copyright of the materials used to train the AI-generative algorithms. There are several lawsuits currently waiting to be heard regarding this particular issue, and until those cases have been heard, we have no idea which side of this ethical line the law will reside.

So, that's one problem.

However, the problem that is of greater concern to me is whether works can be granted copyright protection or not. If a writer (or any creative) was to use AI-generative tools to create their works, some countries will grant that copyright (like my home country of New Zealand), but other countries won't (like the USA). And without a copyright in place, I have zero hope of protecting any revenue stream that comes from said copyrighted works. It's that simple.

The only way I can ensure that my words are granted copyright protection is if I write everything myself, making my works human-generated (even if that copyright protection ultimately is worth jack shit because of the copyright theft that is happening via piracy and AI tech companies thinking that they can do what they want with published works; "fair use" my ass).

I need to preserve my voice

For me, my voice is the biggest selling point of my writing. Only I can write the way I write, describing things the way I do. Sure, others might be able to come close to what I do, but my voice is unique to me.

To put a grim thought onto this, when I die, that unique voice will also die.

But the reason my voice is so unique is because I am writing it myself. I'm not getting an automated system to do it for me.

For my nonfiction (my blogs, my social media posts, and my nonfiction books), the voice is a reflection of the way I speak in real life. It's the same terminology, sentence constructions, and emphasis. It's the same odd humor and bluntness. And it's the same sense of truths. It's me, but in written form.

For my fiction, my characters start to alter the voice used because of how I approach those characters. But again, the cadences of their dialogue and the sentence constructions used are unique to the characters in my head.

No automated system has any hope of generating a voice that sounds like the characters found only in my head, because no automated system has a direct feed into my thought process. (And the day that the technology becomes available to have a direct mental link to my thoughts… Holy cow, I'm running for the hills!)

No matter what I do, I need to preserve my voice. And an AI system would only get in the way of that.

Crafting the story is the fun part

But the most important part of this equation to me is that crafting the story is actually the fun part. Getting my thoughts and words onto paper, even in a jumbled dictation mess, is the part I enjoy the most. And I keep writing because of how much I enjoy it.

For the love of all that is good, why would I want to allow an automated program to take that joy away from me?

Using AI to help with the editing, particularly the grammar part? Sure. Grammar trips me up a lot, so I'll gladly take that help.

Allowing AI to help with writing the ad copy and the back cover blurbs? Sure, why not? I hate doing that stuff, anyway.

Using AI to help work out the optimal time to post on social media? Yep, let the AI do the analysis of an insane amount of data. That's what computers were designed for originally.

But let an AI take over for the one part of the process that I love doing? Forget it. Never going to happen.

Until the day I die, my words will be written solely by me, human authored. And I'm proud of it!