tech
AI is getting better at writing. Humans must get better at editing
WRITING IS HARD. For Franz Kafka, putting words on the page was a process of “unending torments”. George Orwell said it felt like “a long bout of some painful illness”. Hunter S. Thompson, a journalist, saw it as the opposite of sex: “only good when it’s over”. Now AI has come to the rescue. Large language models (LLMs) eagerly offer reams of text without any pain or torment. Bots can spew out emails (excellently), longer prose (passably) and poetry (poorly). To them, writer’s block is a 500-sheet pack of paper: any user of an LLM can produce as many words in a day as Kafka did in his life.
TL;DR
- Writing has historically been a difficult process for many authors.
- Large language models (LLMs) offer a solution by generating text without human effort.
- AI can produce emails, prose, and poetry, though quality varies.
- Using AI to write without disclosure can be seen as fraudulent.
- Tools are available to detect AI-generated content.