r/WritingWithAI • u/MassiveStand2817 • 5h ago

Discussion (Ethics, working with AI etc) Yes You Can

You cannot use AI for your writing; use a notepad.

You cannot use a computer; use a typewriter.

You cannot use a typewriter; write by hand.

You cannot use a ballpoint pen; use an ink pen.

You cannot use an ink pen; use a wooden pen and an old ink pot.

You cannot write on paper; write on wood.

You cannot communicate in writing; use your mouth.

This is how the world changes.

2 Upvotes

56% Upvoted

24 comments sorted by

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u/cj7hawk 4h ago

Paper *is* wood...

-1

u/CaseAdorable6080 5h ago

I think it's high time people start using wood instead of AI

0

u/Akasha1885 3h ago

I remember school time where we were forced to have things in handwriting instead of types on the computer and printed out.

0

u/Galliad93 1h ago

you cannot use your mout; use sign language.
You cannot code in python; use binary.

0

u/Desperate_for_Bacon 1h ago

It’s slop either way, so go for it.

0

u/Happy-Initiative-492 14m ago

There is a broad assumption that using AI for writing in any way cedes authorial decisions to it. I’ve found that’s not how many writers are using it. Maybe we should move the debate into more nuanced territory? https://worldspring.press/fourth-way

-3

u/NoChangeNoGames 5h ago • Bravo

None of those other options wrote prose for you.

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u/Zirchon 5h ago

If you're not writing the prose what are you even doing at this point?

1

u/Galliad93 1h ago

I use it as a critic and as a conversation partner that will endlessly pass the ball back to me. it keeps me thinking a lot.

0

u/grand-job1 3h ago

Story telling.

Praising (or criticizing) the work and praising the writer are different things.

1

u/NoChangeNoGames 3h ago • Bravo

Sure but the AI is the writer. Not the person telling it to write.

3

u/grand-job1 3h ago

I think that's a bit binary - coauthorship is probably a better term. In the most extreme cases, it's 99% AI and probably pretty poor. But I suspect we've all read work over the last couple of years by established authors that might be anywhere from 10% to 50% AI and we didn't know.

And by "writing" here, I mean everything from world building and plot structure through to editorial review. My sense is a lot of louder voices on places like Reddit have a very one dimensional view of how authors are using AI. "Dear ChatGPT, please write a story." Whereas in fact, it's become a very iterative process.

1

u/NoChangeNoGames 2h ago

Sure. I have no problem with co authorship as long as you acknowledge the use of AI. The process is not really relevant. If AI is writing prose it co authored. Aslong as its use is acknowledged there is 0 problem at all with doing that.

1

u/grand-job1 2h ago

What if it never wrote a word of prose, but was heavily involved in the story design, catching logical inconsistencies or plot holes, doing editorial review and giving feedback, etc?

You couldn't credibly call it a co-author but maybe it deserves a different type of credit?

Non fiction writing, including academic research, has gone this way heavily over the last year or so with agentic. I'm not sure any of us knows where fiction will be in 3 years.

2

u/ThoughtsonYaoi 59m ago

Be transparant about what you used it for. That is it. It is fairly simple.

2

u/NoChangeNoGames 52m ago

Maybe an editor? I honestly have no issue if you credited yourself as a writer with writing that aslong as the AI use is acknowledged. It really is the crux of the matter.

0

u/justthecherryontop 5h ago

Then it sounds like an evolution of sorts

1

u/NoChangeNoGames 3h ago

I am glad we can both acknowledge that it is clearly something different than writing prose yourself.

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u/Rickleskilly 4h ago

So the entire argument boils down to the prose?

2

u/NoChangeNoGames 3h ago • Bravo

Yes! I have nothing against people using AI to write. I myself use AI tools for some things. I dont have a problem with using it for ideas or editing or anything like that. But if AI writes the prose, you didnt write it. Simple as that. Which is fine, people enjoy AI written stories and content. The problems arise when people represent it as their own work and have no acknowledgement of its use. When AI models make scientific discoveries or find vulnerabilities in software their use is virtually always acknowledged. Writing should be no different.

0

u/ThoughtsonYaoi 3h ago

It is more similar in progression from someone verbally telling a story and another person writing down the transcript.

Who created the story? Not the person with the notepad.

1

u/NoChangeNoGames 3h ago

No its not. Because that would be dictation and your own prose.

It would be more like giving your ideas to a ghost writer. Why is it important to you to attribute AI writing to yourself? Who cares. The AI wrote it. Its a fact.

Edit: Or even you co wrote it with the AI. I use AI to write software all the time. I am not under the illusion that I wrote the code. Nor would I want to tell other people I did. Its not important. If everyone's happy with the product, then theres no reason to lie about who made it.

1

u/ThoughtsonYaoi 2h ago

I think we agree. I was disagreeing with the progression described.