Where Are The Writers?
John Ink2Quill
www.ink2quill.com

More and more writers I talk to are using AI to write for them and to speed up the whole book writing process. The new technology speeds up writing projects for digital nomads and writers of all kinds alike to finish projects on deadline and get paid. I recently spoke with someone who completed their first book on the history of Puerto Rico with the help of AI. Large swathes of his book are taken from the AI algorithms and he says he was able to complete it on time for its projected release date. He did not hide this fact and I’m sure it is a great book that should hopefully get its own streaming service series. And I will read it but I have to wonder what has happened to the writing of novels if authors take such short cuts? Would it not be some form of plagiarism?

Completing a book or screenplay as quickly as possible in order to grind out another one should not always be the goal of writing. Authors should not see themselves as content mills where they produce quantity over quality. This model should not be sustainable and I hope it does not become the norm. Imagine the author of tomorrow taking the credit for having written 100+ books a year which would probably be pretty insipid in content and genuineness.

I worked in publishing for a very short stint because of how they did business. Academic publishing has morphed into a complete scam dominated by a few large companies that churn out more and more books, magazines and papers every year without proper editing, data verification and adequate plagiarism checks. For example, some countries (and I won’t mention which ones) churn out academic papers through paper mills and commit paper and content theft and they are never caught. Publishers of large academic publishing companies are never held to account for any kind of publishing integrity because their goal is to publish as many books, papers and articles as possible. The higher the quantity of books and academic papers published the more money the company makes. An editor is expected to publish more and more books every year in order to make quota and as a result is not able to check every document thoroughly enough. The software they use is so outdated it most likely was bought in the 1990s. No joke. The only software close to being modern was the Docusign software which is very good. Otherwise, the rest is really stone age software. It’s pathetic.

My point is that we do not want to turn writers, artists etc. into people that churn out whatever the popular topic of the day is done mostly by AI at record speed without little thought to what’s between the pages or on the screen. I’ve heard stories that many famous people back in the days of paper had ghost writers or would have their secretaries write their books for them. This is a shame. It’s a lazy shame. Well, now everyone seems to have secretaries that work so much faster but produce far less genuine, quality writing.

Either way, AI is here to stay and our notions of what is plagiarism is right now, forever changed in academia, publishing and just everywhere. I heard that schools have started accepting papers and homework that is done with the help of AI. This calls for a redefinition of what is plagiarism and what is the correct usage of AI and such technologies. And I do believe that this will be far more accepted than doping is in sports because we all will be expected to use it.

And, and, and the value of intelligence in our society will drop because AI can do larger tasks faster. Education and academia will have to change and will not be these revered temples bestowing the title of ‘smart person’ to those that pay them buckets of money anymore. Those days were good while they lasted. I enjoyed such a title but in all honesty it’s complete BS. I see so many talented, gifted people who did not go to a top university but do amazing things anyway. I’m starting to think that talented people grow on trees and sprout from the ground all around us. Things really look that way to me now.

So, most importantly, what will happen to the writers and artists and self expression?

John Ink2Quill

I2Q Blogs / Opinions 2025 / AI / ink2quill / john / November / opinions / quill /