Several years ago, a software engineer neighbor of mine came up to the rooftop and made a theatrical announcement: “AI took the World.” It sounded dark and scary to me—I felt this was an exaggerated statement. Looking back, I say he was quite right. Some days ago, we met again on the roof, and I apologized and admitted he was right about what he said a few years ago, but he warned me: “It is just the beginning.” This time I believe him, and I try to learn the new way of existence with AI and ChatGPT as a writer and also as a human.
After a 148-day-long Hollywood writers’ strike in 2023, and after scandals, regulations, rule-breaking actions, analyzing articles, and many panel discussions by Hollywood experts, we are still living in the darkness when we have to decide as writers how much ChatGPT we should use. There are many questions that pop up. The main one is: Where is the ethical barrier to using ChatGPT in our work as writers, and also as people in our private conversations?
Writing…
I believe if you use it well, you don’t lose your real voice. As a writer, I do use ChatGPT in English-language articles, because ChatGPT could be only a tool. A good new tool. Especially for those writers who weren’t lucky enough to be born in a country where they speak one of the world-languages. Yes, sure, you can learn… but as a writer, you will always feel that you can only express yourself perfectly in your mother language. You want to share your thoughts with an international audience, with your original voice in your original writing style, and you don’t want to publish an article with grammar mistakes like a 3rd grader… I believe that I’ve learned how to use ChatGPT in a way that doesn’t harm my style, my voice—and I speak the language well enough to correct ChatGPT if it wants to trick me during ‘polishing my grammar.’ So I’m confident using ChatGPT in my work, knowing that the article is fully my intellectual property.
Also, we shouldn’t be phony. We, foreign-language writers who also write in English, have always used Google Translate before—since we could. And before that, we had to ask native speakers or bilingual friends, editors, or husbands to supervise our grammar in our articles. Always asking for a favor from someone… and waiting for the translation, and hoping that it didn’t change your voice…
And ChatGPT is not just a good-quality translator or grammar-correcting program… I’m sure that almost every modern writer uses it (whether they admit it or not) to search for data and include the text—which was always the boring and longest part of our job, and was taking time away from the most important part: to create. Well, I see it that way—just the typewriter got smarter… and is also saving time for us.
Is it still an embarrassing thing to use ChatGPT in writing? Something to hide and feel guilty about?
I would say, absolutely not. Even screenwriters in Hollywood are coming out that they are using ChatGPT—I just heard it at the prominent Milken Global Conference last week from a Hollywood expert, one of the heads of a major studio. If you use it well, there’s nothing to hide. We—writers—can’t not be part of the technical boom. Many in the audience think, No, no AI in writing, that’s a cheat! The articles should come directly from your soul—this is your opinion, your perspective, you are expressing emotions—but if you use ChatGPT, it couldn’t be like that. Again: please, no generalization. If you use it as a tool, you don’t change the content or the writer’s style and voice.
But we’re still worried about the judgmental voices… Which is interesting, because in music nobody is questioning whether electronic music can express emotions or at least stir something in your soul… And then what about photography? We couldn’t even create that picture without a camera, without a machine, without the tool. Not to mention the editing (tools) after… And then there are the visual effects in movies. I just interviewed a freshly awarded Technical Oscar-winning developer.
He said that basically there are no movies anymore without digital after-touches, which will all come from AI tools very soon. He also explained the difference between generative AI and AI that creators use as a tool.
We have to accept this: Human nature has always been like this—trying to make the work easier with tools and machines. Nothing is wrong with that. We just have longer histories in other creative fields (music, film, photography) with machines and tools than in the field of writing. I still have my mother’s orange typewriter, which was high-tech in my early childhood. But it’s so much better not to waste another sheet of paper when you make an editorial mistake…
Should I use ChatGPT on social media?
I would—and I will. Especially if it’s (sort of) a professional profile. And you can save 15 minutes by letting it add your hashtags. That’s another question—why are we doing the entire thing…?
And the personal level…
From social media postings, it’s just one small step to answering someone on Messenger, Instagram, email, or even in a text message with ChatGPT. Is it cheating? No, I don’t think so—if you give the content clearly. Is it a mistake? Yes, I think so. Because you’re losing only one thing—who you really are. Even with your bad grammar.
Overall
After some experience, I realized that ChatGPT is the ‘makeup’ of our writing. In the worst-case scenario, it could be Botox or even full plastic surgery, when you can’t recognize the original face/content… I only wear makeup at work or when I’m going out. If someone really wants to know me, they must get to know me without makeup… So I decided not to use any ChatGPT in important private messages. I keep the ‘makeup’ for my readers—so they don’t have to suffer through a makeup-less, bun-head writer with kitchen-English. (Ok, that’s a writer’s exaggeration, but still…)
– Vida Virág –
