AI Won't Kill Writing

Please stop worrying

Print is alive and well here in Italy. Ness is about making and thinking about content strategy, storytelling, and the creative life. To support this project and gain access to our subscriber chat and archives, please consider subscribing.

The Long View

I can’t seem to get worked up about AI and writing. I feel like I should be pulling my hair out. I just can’t get there.

Synths didn’t kill the piano. The camera didn’t kill painting.

I know there will be a future where writing by both humans and AI will coexist. Humans will still write and have writing jobs, and AI will also write and also give way to new forms of creativity we didn’t foresee.

Here’s how I know, or at least think I know.

Years ago, when Photoshop and digital photography became ubiquitous, there was a similar panic. Photographers saw both as a threat, and they struggled to hold onto film as a medium (remember #filmisnotdead?) Today both film and digital live together and thrive, and we have long since stopped complaining about images looking “shopped”. (Kind of like writing being AI Slop)

So many new technologies have given rise to entirely new creative professions. The typewriter: the writer. The camera: the photographer. The video camera: movie stars, actors, directors.

I think we have to assume AI will do the same. It won’t just take, it will also give.

But back to the photo metaphor. Today, film photographers still make images every day, and film companies struggle to meet demand for film. But we also use our iPhones to capture pics. All. The. Time. I’m sure today there is far more photography and appreciation for photography than there ever has been, as a result of the very tech we were worried about killing cameras.

Like with photography, the future of writing will still hold space for good human writing while utilitarian writing will be produced by simpler tech: AI. This is good! Not all writing is good! Most of it is actually very bad, and it’s ok to let AI do some of the grunt work for us. It’s hard to see in these moments of uncertainty, but there’s a good chance that AI could actually help create a new era and appreciation for writing. Somehow, but I don’t know how!

Writing well is a brutal but rewarding struggle, and it will always be there, with a rapt audience, for those truly committed writers who couldn’t imagine doing anything else other than the difficult but beautiful work of putting words on a page.

(I know writing about AI is so bleh these days, but I’ve been spinning this around in my head for days and wanted to put it somewhere - hey, that’s writing!)