SANTOSH BAKAYA
Let me, at the very outset, mention that it is indeed a scary scenario when we find AI becoming the magic wand, helping one at every juncture. I am not frowning upon its use, in other fields [grammar, syntax, reframing sentences], but when it comes to brazenly asking AI to write your poetry and your stories, it is reprehensible.
It needs to be condemned by all in one voice of robust protest.
We all know that the modus operandi of AI is based on algorithms and data. Human intelligence, on the other hand, is based on emotions.
My question is, if we have been blessed with human intelligence, why resort to artificial intelligence? Why lift whole paragraphs from AI and pass them off as your own? This is nothing but glorified plagiarism.
AI is a mimicry artist. Allow me to be audacious enough to say that it is a monkey trying to imitate humans. Does Artificial Intelligence help one by imitating human intelligence?
It is only monkey business, put a stop to it – RIGHT NOW!
Human intelligence will always remain important. Nothing fake can replace it. Our emotions are our own; nothing can quash them. Human intelligence enables us to learn, solve problems, adapt, and reason.
If one is deluded into the belief that one has become a writer overnight, perish the thought! There can be no overnight writers. NEVER!
If you want to excel in creative writing, AI is not the answer.
Tell me, what is human intelligence for? If it is not used, it will become extinct, reducing us to mindless robots. There have been instances of AI-generated stories winning awards. Are we left with no scruples?
If you accidentally win a prize for an AI-generated story, please think twice before breaking into a song and dance.
And who knows, excessive dependence on AI can deprive you of your thinking ability, and you will find yourself rushing to AI to teach you some dance moves and some song lines, so that you can break into a song and dance celebrating an award that you did not deserve at all!
What I said above was just a cautionary note for all the aspiring writers waiting in the wings. If you want to excel in the field of writing, use the intelligence that you were born with, not the artificial one that people are falling in love with.
Let me return to my favorite theme of reading extensively. Mark my words, no one can become a writer without reading a lot.
The more you read, the less you will need AI.
I am reminded of the words of James Baldwin:
“You think your pain and heartbreak are unprecedented in the history of the world, but then you read. It was books that taught me that the things that tormented me most were the very things that connected me with all the people who were alive. Who had ever been alive.”
Can Technology reproduce emotions? No! Never!
And poetry is raw emotion. Poetry comes with imperfections, too.
It is unfiltered. Let us not allow our emotions to be filtered by the clinical, perfect eye of AI. We want our poetry to be RAW. VISCERAL. IMPERFECT.
A1-generated poetry fails to punch us in the guts.
It is too flawless. Too impeccable.
But human writing is full of flaws, full of imperfections.
I have seen my students, who could not write a sentence properly, writing full novels and reviewing one book a day.
I have been reviewing books for a long time, and let me tell you, it is not an easy task. It takes me at least ten days to read and review a book. And these so- called reviewers are reviewing one book a day.
Is it possible? In the present world of AI, I have seen my own students morphing into review-writing machines. Why do their consciences not protest? Jolt those comatose consciences, and jump into the maelstrom of a world where so- called creative writers do not have to beseech, beg, or browbeat AI for writing for them.
When you can write yourself, why resort to ghost writing?
Why take the help of ghosts, tell me? Sorry for going off track. But, no, I am very much on the track.
I have been repeatedly writing about the theme of READING.
So read on to improve your craft. There are no shortcuts to creative writing. Utilize AI for various tasks, such as creating digital art, accelerating your daily workflow, conducting research, and generating bulleted summaries.
But creative writing is a big NO. And NO Means NO.
In my next piece, I will talk a little about poetry.
What are the tools for writing REAL POETRY? POETRY THAT ERUPTS FROM THE HEART, NOT GENERATED BY AI.
Trigger that creative spark by using your own emotions, not artificially generated ones, right?
Till then, cheerio.
The author is an academician, poet, essayist, novelist, and TEDx speaker, with more than twenty published books to her credit.
