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It’s a topic that thumbs are frantically tapping about on the internet, with the WGA on strike and the rapid ascent of ChatGPT: Will AI soon be writing a Hollywood blockbuster or the next great novel? There are many blue-tick Muskites on Twitter already gleefully lamenting the death of human creativity. Surely, it’s just around the corner, like self-driving cars and virtual reality classrooms. Well, no, this human writer argues, because at the heart of what AI does is a process which is the very antithesis of good writing. Intrigued? Let me explain.
Here’s something they don’t tell you in writing classes; the secret to good writing is simple: specificity. To explain, I could simply refer you to the episode of Malcolm Gladwell’s excellent Revisionist History podcast about how country music makes you cry more than other music. But to explain briefly myself, it is the central paradox of all human connection that the more specific and seemingly unique an experience, the more we are able to relate to it. It has been the basis of all human interest journalism since the dawn of magazines. Generalities, statistics, hundreds dead we can shrug off, but the tale of one fellow human’s struggles plucks at our heart strings. This is because we can imagine the specific details and connect them to our own remembered experiences.
