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The Rise of the Machine
People who know I’m a writer often ask me, “What about ChatGPT?”
Recruiters and people who know I’m a writer often ask me, “What about ChatGPT?” As if, with LLMs on the rise, I should be worried that I won’t have a steady paycheck soon. The joke’s on them — I’m unemployed and don’t have a steady paycheck anyway. Ha! But jokes aside, I’m not worried at all. If anything, I’m thrilled. ChatGPT makes my life as a content creator, writer, and thinker easier. And less competitive.
My go-to answer when people ask me this is that ChatGPT is great for optimizing processes and workflows but not for generating anything original. That is unless you’re looking for facts.
These days, if I have a question, I don’t Google it anymore. I ask ChatGPT. My little sister (aged 5) calls it The Machine. Whenever she has a question, she says, “Let’s ask The Machine!” And The Machine tells us what we need to know.
And yet, would I lie in bed before sleeping and read ChatGPT-generated stories? I doubt it. Maybe it’s just me, but the stories I love the most aren’t necessarily about plot, strong characters, or all those literary devices young writers obsess over in creative writing workshops. What I’m looking for is voice and a human touch. I want connection — something that lets me see the author beyond the…
