Pumping Out a Story
Someone I know recently told me that he had created a short story on a specific website that uses AI technology. He explained that all he did was tell the machine what he wanted the story to be about and a brief explanation of the plot. The AI application pumped out his short story without him doing any of the writing. He then made a cover on Canva and uploaded his short story to Amazon. Without any shame, he proceeded to pat himself on the back for his accomplishment. He was extremely happy to tell me that he had already sold a few copies of his machine created fiction. There was no mention from this forgery writer (he has never published an original manuscript) about how his eBook was actually a non-original creation. He truly did not care that it was machine made. Rather, he was proud of the writing that the AI had produced. It was incredible to realize that this individual is probably one of thousands of people out there in the online world who don’t care about originality or authenticity. The only goal is making money and then claiming bragging rights that they are a published author. There is literally no goal of self-creation. Some would say, “Peter you need to get over it. The modern-day AI tools are here to stay. These AI books are still providing entertainment or knowledge. Why should you be so offended? What’s wrong with a side-hustle uploading AI created content? “
Author Kieren Westwood’s Video
There is a talented author and editor by the name of Kieren Westwood. He posted an excellent video on YouTube titled ‘AI Steals More Than Just Your Stories’. The video communicated his personal thoughts and beliefs as to the proliferation of artificial intelligence within the writing domain. Kieren says, “Something I’ve been hearing lately is, I only use AI to touch up my writing or I only use it for advice on my outline, or I just use it for feedback”. He says, “AI can only make your work immediately less original since it can only spit out what it’s stolen from other writers”. He goes to explain, “I can tell you with certainty that everything you’ve ever written, every idea you’ve ever had, is better than AI can do, because it came from a real beating heart, an actual person.” His video message nails the truth.
The Unconcerned Tribe
There is a growing dismissive attitude that it doesn’t matter. Originality is being sneered at by AI assisted writers because the AI tools make writing easier. But writing is not supposed to be easy. Art is never easy, and it should not be. Writing is an art form. Your words, sentences and paragraphs should be a creation from your beating heart and your own mind. The beating heart writer uses his or her human experience, intuition, feelings, beliefs and natural creativity to produce something that is inspiring, unique and fresh. As I write this, ironically there is an AI Assistant that is available in the toolbar.
Easy AI Writing versus Real Writing
Writing original words and thoughts can be painful. But original writing is artistic. In contrast, machine writing is spiritless and imitative. The AI tools out there are being marketed openly as providing fast writing results and providing the ultimate convenience. Humans by nature want less pain and less effort. Humans want convenience. Humans are motivated by pleasure. The wannabe writers out to only make a buck are using the AI writing tools because it makes it all so easy. The internet AI companies know this. And they are succeeding in convincing people that the new generation of AI created stories and non-fiction books should be condoned.
Google’s Gemini Agrees
I was curious. I went to Gemini to have AI answer my prompt. I asked, What are some reasons to NOT use artificial intelligence tools for writing stories and blog posts?
Gemini replied with the following response. I was not surprised with the answer considering that some of the technology companies involved in AGI have stolen huge amounts of copywritten books which have now been uploaded to the AI machines (without compensating the authors of these copywritten books)
Gemini replied: (AI models are trained on vast datasets of existing text and can only regurgitate and remix what they have learned. This often results in content that is formulaic, predictable, and devoid of the unique spark of human ingenuity. For storytellers, this can mean plots that feel derivative and characters that lack depth and complexity. For bloggers, it can lead to posts that are generic and fail to offer fresh perspectives, ultimately boring and disengaging readers. Ethical considerations also cast a long shadow over the use of AI in writing. The question of authorship and ownership becomes murky when a significant portion of the text is generated by a machine. This raises concerns about plagiarism, as AI models may inadvertently reproduce copyrighted material without proper attribution. Furthermore, an over-reliance on AI can devalue the craft of writing itself, potentially leading to a decline in writing skills and a diminished appreciation for the nuance and effort involved in creating compelling narratives and insightful articles.)
This is the key question to ask yourself. If you respect art; if you respect the craft of writing; if you respect originality; then why would you outsource your novel or short story writing to artificial intelligence?
Sell On Amazon or Sell Directly
This directly results in the other problem for the author in 2025. How do you protect your online eBook from being stolen and distributed elsewhere illegally or stopping someone from plagiarizing your writing? Author Kieren Westwood has his own strategy. He refuses to sell his fiction on Amazon. Another author that I follow, J.F. Penn just accepts the fact that her books are at risk of being copied or stolen. She has taken the strategy that she will rely on her large following of dedicated fans who she believes will want to buy directly from her. That is an interesting strategy but not as interesting as the strategy that author John T. Reed follows. He does not sell his books on Amazon. He does not sell eBooks. He only sells his books directly from his website. John uses Shopify but he is responsible for shipping the books to his customers. This approach is expensive and time consuming, but he is limiting the possibility of theft of his copywritten books. And John has explained that his profit per book is much higher than selling via a third-party such as Amazon. Overall, I do believe that John charges a higher price for a printed book and sells less volume, but his higher profit margin makes up for the lower sales volume. Also, John T. Reed does not care about being in bookstores. He is a true self-publishing entrepreneur who only cares about self-distribution. The downside is that most readers today love the convenience of eBooks, me included. I use the Kindle app each and every day because I’m reading and highlighting books all the time. I must say, I have always admired John’s approach to writing and selling books.
The Beating Heart Writers
The prominent and established writers that we all know are all beating heart writers. Cormac McCarthy, Elmore Leonard, Dennis Lehane, Harper Lee, Stephen King, J.K. Rowling and many others created their stories on their own without using the AI machines. You have a beating heart and a mind. Embrace the challenging work of writing. Embrace the difficulties of creation. Cherish and be proud of originality. You will feel a sense of accomplishment and the reader will appreciate your original artistic work.