## 40 AI Writing

During the last weeks in France, a novel author was accused of using AI to write his book. It was also probably because he's a black Canadian from Haïti, because other authors have used that type of tool for novels or essay and they were seen as "modern", "creative"...oops, they were conservative and white. OK, that black author was also guilty of plagiarism in past columns and he apologized for that. But what is the problem with AI writing if the reader is moved and deeply affected by the story or the style? 

I have read some recent Prix Goncourt winners, and a few of them moved me only through their story; not their style, which was rather conventional and ordinary. Most of the modern books I read are like that and sometimes there is a different style, a way to write and describes things that moves me. Very rare...But AI are not creative for that. The robot/engine answers to a prompt and imitates other authors. They don't invent stories, they do synthesis sometimes and that's all. In that book accused of AI use, it's the story of migrants exiled from their countries, trying to rebuild their lives, enduring often horrific experiences. The author lived himself that type of stories and, this time can also talk about racism.

He's speaking English, French, Creole and all that creates also a particular style. For example, I'm french and my English is often marked by a French style that is not the proper way to express oneself in English. Sometimes I use a dictionnary or a translation tool to find words, and I also use a spelling and grammar checker. These are also AI tools that most of us are using nowadays. Does it modify the way we are writing ? Not really and we all have verbal tics, gimmicks, and stereotypes with what we hear, we have read, our culture. All that is making the way we write.

The supposed AI use was detected by... an AI tool. I have tested those type of tools on what I have written in French and English, sometimes with an AI transformed text and it's always wrong. I have also read that some famous authors did the same with their own texts and with often the same result. AI are "fueled" by the plundering of texts, billions of famous or not famous texts and nobody did something against that! We are entering in a dark period of suspicion on AI use and it could be better to ban all AI. But I know the human behavior and how, even a young child, is going to cheat. And if you consider that this blog (or the french one) is written by an AI, don't count on me to prove to you via video that I wrote that all by myself. Perhaps you should start by asking yourself some questions about yourself and your relationship with others!

2Dɛ
=> mailto:icemanfr@sdf.org Comments by mail
or by a reply on your blog