At the recent AI for Everyone Summit, one of the things I was asked to think about is the "write my book" tools** that have begun to make an appearance. The goal behind these tools, to offer one 'using AI correctly and ethically’ use case, is to get a rough but clean first draft done by having the AI respond to a detailed, complex prompt (We’re talking about a paragraph or two of instructions with additional material potentially uploaded to feed the LLM with more data to work from.). From there, the would-be author would proceed to the process of rewriting what had been generated to check for GenAI hallucinations and places where the would-be author needs to expand on the generated text to better capture their idea.
These tools, then, can serve as ghost writers for those who question whether they have the time, inclination, dedication, or skill to produce a vehicle*** for their idea. The complex prompt and the editing of the generated text is where the thinking part of writing takes place.
“Their idea” is where I can sense a kind of value here. If you scroll long and far enough on LinkedIn, you are almost certain to come across a post that reminds you that ideas don't have value because only the products of ideas have value. I'm sure that you, like me, can think back over the many times you have offered others (or had offered to you) good ideas that would have benefitted them only to have them not taken up and watched while others, with a similar idea, benefitted when they acted.
It's common enough to be a trope — often framed as an "I told you so" being delivered to a bungling husband by a long-suffering sit-com wife.
And if all you are looking for is to get your idea out into the world in a publication, it's hard to argue with using these tools — especially for those in the academy whose annual assessments and tenure and promotion are tied to the number of publications appearing on their c.v.
But the transfer of information from one person to another is only one of writing's purposes. Like any medium of communication, part of writing is engaging the reader and keeping them interested in whatever it is a would-be author is writing about.
During a recent livestream of 58 Keys, I asked William Gallagher for his thoughts on the GenAI tools that are appearing and if he intended to use any of them, given what they can do to an author's voice. In brief, he replied that he could see the utility of a more advanced grammar checking tool but balked at autogenerated text — including autogenerated email.
He pointed out how we, as writers, were advertising our skills with every email (joking that the advanced grammar check may result in false advertising). And he highlighted the response of another participant, who wrote in the chat "If I'm not interested in writing the message, why should I expect someone to be interested in reading it?"
That question, I think, gives hope for would-be authors, gives important guidance for those considering generated text tools, and should give pause to those who believe they can outsource writing to AI.
Using AI to write a message to a team and find a list of possible times to meet is the kind of message an AI can and should write — assuming everyone's AI Agent has access to accurate data. Asking an AI to pitch an idea or propose a solution is more risky because it doesn't pass the "why should I expect them to read it" test.
Rather than de-valuing writing, this highlights the value of good writers — people who have learned the how and why of communicating in a way that creates an expectation of interest in what's being written and why it's important.
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* I will be using this phrase through out this post but I ask you, gentle reader, to not read it pejoratively. To call this theoretical Individual “the user" misses the mark, I think, as it focuses us too much on the tool and not enough on the intent. "Would-be" is needed, however, because our theoretical individual has not completed the task of bringing their completed work to publication. Real world users of these tools, after all, may or may not be authors of prior works.
** I haven't experimented with a specific one at the time of writing.
*** I use "vehicle" here because there are tools that generate images (still or moving), music, presentations, computer code, and likely other forms media I don't know about. This question isn't exclusive to writing.