… that you are mindful of him?, by Ben Jeapes

Image by OpenClipart-Vectors from Pixabay 

In Nineteen Eighty-Four, Winston Smith’s girlfriend Julia has “some mechanical job on one of the novel-writing machines”. Under the wonderfully sneering label ‘prolefeed’, the Party has a programme to spew out literature, music, drama, entertainment and “sentimental songs which were composed entirely by mechanical means on a special kind of kaleidoscope known as a versificator”, all to keep the masses happy.

Which brings me nicely to a topic in the news lately – ChatGPT. This is a service which, in response to a basic instruction from you (“Write a publicity blurb for this widget”; “Apply for this job on my behalf”; “Write a detective story in the style of Jane Austen”) will within seconds produce some impeccable prose apparently doing exactly what you ask.

Cue unnecessarily gleeful doomsayers declaring that soon there won’t be any need for writers. Sadly, not without reason. A good friend has just lost a major income stream because a website she was working for has decided to start using ChatGPT instead. The output is bland, dry, devoid of all human feeling … Oh, and cheap.

Hmm.

I decided to give ChatGTP a run for its money.

Me: “What was the basis of C.S. Lewis' trinitarian beliefs?”

ChatGPT: “C.S. Lewis was a Christian theologian and writer who is best known for his contributions to Christian apologetics, especially his argument for the existence of God in his book "Mere Christianity". Lewis' trinitarian beliefs were based on the Christian doctrine of the Holy Trinity, which teaches that God is one being who exists in three persons: the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. This doctrine is central to Christian belief and is derived from the teachings of Jesus and the writings of the New Testament.”

Can’t argue with that as a series of factual statements but it hardly provides anything analytical. Lewis became a world-famous theologian precisely because he thought his beliefs through, in great depth. So:

Me: “I was hoping for a reference to his book "Surprised by Joy" and his path from theism to actual Christian trinitarian belief.”

ChatGPT: “I apologize if I misunderstood your question. In his book "Surprised by Joy", C.S. Lewis describes his journey from atheism to theism, and ultimately to Christian trinitarian belief …” [And it does go on to sum up Lewis’s argument pretty well.]

Double hmm.

A couple of years ago, an AI lab proudly reported that it had completed Beethoven’s 10th Symphony. They had taken the few sketches Beethoven left before his death, taught the AI all of Beethoven’s other works, and pressed the START button. And yes, what came out does sound like a lot of Beethoven's symphonies – which is precisely why it doesn’t sound like any symphony by Beethoven. Beethoven never repeated himself.

Original inspiration is one thing that ChatGPT or any other AI seems unable to provide. It can copy, yes. It can pastiche. But any copy is always inferior to the original. So, while AI continues to learn off human-created examples, it will at best produce perfectly competent work with nothing to distinguish it from any other perfectly competent work. Eliminate human input and it will only be able to learn off poorer and poorer AI-generated examples, spiralling ever further down into bland mediocre sludge.

Phew, our jobs are safe. In the long run. I can see a drastic rebalance of the human-machine equation in the workplace – a lot less of one, a lot more of the other – but just today (9th February) there are reports that an AI acting on its own managed to wipe $100bn off its company share value, so I genuinely think that companies run by people with brains will always put the human in charge of the AI. It may take the bean counters time to work out that humans just do it better, so we may be in for a long haul, but we’ll get there.

And for us writers, I can see it having uses. Would I trust an AI to write a Bible study or a sermon? No, because an essential part of writing one of those is surely the inspiration of the Holy Spirit in the heart of the speaker. And if they are not receiving that inspiration, they’re not worth listening to.

Would I trust it, though, to provide me with a list of resources on a given topic that would help me write a Bible study or sermon? Or for that matter a novel or any other piece of writing? Well, yes. The key thing would be that the list was then filtered through my human mind, prayerfully and thoughtfully – but there’s no reason the AI couldn’t produce the raw material. And I might even run my argument past it once I’m done. Not every logical argument is correct, but every correct argument is logical, and logic is one thing AI does very well.

And for writers generally, I can see how it could be used, say, to test the logic of a plot, or the continuity, or that the brown eyed brunette of chapter 3 doesn’t become a blue eyed blonde in chapter 5 (we’ve all been there). It’s not a game changer but it is a game tweaker.

Of making many books there is no end, but perhaps the studying part will become less wearisome.

Ben Jeapes took up writing in the mistaken belief that it would be easier than a real job (it isn’t). Hence, as well as being the author of eight novels and co-author of many more, he has also been a journal editor, book publisher, and technical writer. His most recent title is a children’s biography of Ada Lovelace. www.benjeapes.com