Will ChatGPT Make Writers Obsolete?
The question of whether AI will make writers obsolete is a complex one. We can't predict the future, but it is clear that AI will change what it means to be a writer.
In a recent workshop, Dan Shipper pointed out that 150 years ago, good penmanship was essential because everything had to be done by hand. Today, doing good research online is a far more relevant skill. The nature of the job changes, but writers remain.
At the moment, AI is not good enough to replace a good writer. I say this as someone who hires a lot of writers. AI is not coming for your job, its other writers who know how to wield this new machine that you have to worry about.
VOX journalist Phil Edwards points out that if you're making generic informational videos that are Wikipedia pages plus a slideshow, you're in trouble. That slideshow crap on YouTube is primed for automation. To make good videos, Phil has to connect lots of different data sets when he works. Stuff AI can't easily hop across. Connecting an old newspaper article to a long forgotten postcard, then linking the connection to a satellite map. This is just better writing.
If writing is the formulation of arguments then Professor Paul Fife from North Carolina State University reminds us that this means a whole spectrum of cognitive activities. From research, to brainstorming, to conceptualizing and refining an idea, outlining and structuring your argument, then articulating it, considering responses to arguments or perspectives you haven't included, editing your work, and then getting feedback from people who's opinions you respect. Watching AI generate words on a page is only the palest imitation of what goes into good writing.
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