What I Discovered About AI Today Freaked Me Out
Why AI is getting scary (file under: AI for Writers)
I am tickled to bring you an outstanding guest writer, Philip Ogley, and his astonished reaction to the runaway technology that is AI-generated “creative” work. This is a must-read for every creative worker.
The other day, I wrote a spoof movie review called Lo-Fellas.
It wasn’t intended to fool people; it was just a bit of fun to launch my new publication, 21st Century Flicks on Medium.com.
This isn’t a post promoting this publication, but it did flag up some interesting things about AI. Stuff many of you perhaps already know and will say: “Yeah, Phil, we knew that.”
On the other hand, you might be as shocked as me. Although I use the word shocked in a tempered way. Being a biologist, I’m intrigued as to how far technology is progressing and what it means for humanity.
So bear with me.
The intrigue came about when I explained in my publication that I needed a movie poster as an image. A movie poster that could be generated by AI as long as the writing was not AI-generated.
I used an example of a movie idea I picked out of thin air and told ChatGPT to:
“Create a movie called Beat Box set in 1950s San Francisco. The story of two women who busk to earn money to pay their rent.”
It gave me this in less than a second.
It’s a bit tacky, but it was just to demonstrate what people could do if they didn’t know how to create a movie poster.
Then it got me thinking.
Or, more accurately, my wife got me thinking.
She teaches English to a German insurance company that uses AI all the time to summarise legal documents so their in-company lawyers — or their secretaries — don’t have to.
I told her about the Beat Box poster and how amazed I was. She didn’t seem that impressed but said I should ask it to write a movie review of Beat Box in the style of Philip Ogley, based on my Lo-Fellas review.
So I did.
I asked it:
“Write a 500-word movie review called Beat Box set in 1930s San Francisco. Write it in the style of Philip Ogley using his review of Lo-Fellas as a template. The movie, directed by Morris Stein, is about two female musicians who are about to get evicted from their tiny apartment unless they can come up with the rent. One is called Blondie, played by Alison Burman, and the other is called Charlotte, played by Sarah Watts. They want to busk on the streets. But there’s a problem. Women can’t play on the street — it’s illegal. So what do they do? They dress up as men and amazingly, it works. They make their rent and decide to keep going. After all, it beats gutting fish. They gain a following and eventually are asked to play a concert. Everything is superb. Until their real idenity is discovered.”
This is what I got.
Beat Box — Review by Philip Ogley (100% generated by ChatGPT)
“Morris Stein’s Beat Box is a jazzy, smoke-drenched fable set in the underbelly of 1930s San Francisco, where the streets hum with music, but only if played by the right hands. In an era where women are kept behind closed doors or relegated to background singers, two defiant musicians refuse to be silenced.
Blondie (Alison Burman) and Charlotte (Sarah Watts) are broke. Their cramped apartment barely holds their instruments, let alone their ambitions. The rent is due in a week, and the landlord is not one for charity. Their only talent is music — Blondie on violin, Charlotte on saxophone — but the law says women can’t busk. A cruel irony in a city where sound is currency.
Their solution is simple and daring: become men. They cut their hair, don fedoras, slap on some greasepaint stubble, and become just another couple of jazz cats in a city full of them.
And it works. Coins spill into their case, rent is covered, and for the first time in their lives, they are heard. No one questions them. No one scoffs. The disguise isn’t just a means to an end; it’s a revelation…”
It goes on in this vein for another five paragraphs. It’s a bit schmaltzy in places. But it’s good, right? Would you know the difference if a human had written it?
I was shocked. Especially as I had hardly given it any details. Plus this was the first one it ran off — I could have refined it in any number of ways.
I can hear the sigh. “But it’s not going to stop me from writing. I write because I enjoy it.”
I agree. I love writing because once I get into a groove — a flow state — there’s nothing better. But a lot of people may just want to earn money.
Why not take a shortcut?
What if you just cobbled together a half-assed piece, not particularly well written, but with a beginning, middle, and end? Then ask AI to rewrite it. Maybe in the style of Walter Rhein or Marsha Adams. Maybe even Philip Ogley.
What’s stopping you?
Nothing.
We’re entering dangerous territory. Not because people like Walter Rhein won’t write anymore. But because people will be producing Walter Rhein-like pieces. Or Marsha Adams-esque pieces.
Will they get payment for this?
Nope.
And even if people don’t want to create Write-in-the-style-of pieces, AI can still produce something pretty good.
We all know that writers are getting paid less. It’s been written about endlessly. But after doing this experiment, I think I now know why, and I’m not sure where it’s going to end.
Do you know?
I’m interested in your views on this.
Publisher’s note: Pen2Profit is 100% against AI-generated writing and powerless to stop it or even detect it. With the most recent versions of two big player’s AI apps, there are almost no tells. I hold every ethical writer accountable for not putting all of us out of work. This story explains how creative workers are being screwed.
Someone you should definitely know! Philip Ogley is an anomaly and a highly-skilled writer of fiction and non. An anomaly because he’s part very contemporary thinker, part reincarnated hippy, and part Renaissance man. He’s a versatile writer with a penchant for blending commentary, satire, fiction, and memoir. His blend of wit, storytelling, and cultural exploration makes his work a delightful read for those seeking something beyond the ordinary.
Connect with him on Medium, where he shares his writing and serves as the editor of Pitfall and 21st Century Films. Or via his website: https://philblogley.wordpress.com/contact-philip-ogley/
Or contact him at: [email protected]
You would never regret subscribing to Philip’s Substack Publication. He excels at engaging authentically with people! Plus, he’s often really very funny.
Need to know more about AI for writers and about copyrights for same? Here’s a free link to a deep dive Maryan Pelland did a while back on the real truth about the subject. Copyrights for AI-Generated Writing…
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Honestly, if I reach the point in my writing where chatGPT mimics me, I'll pack up my stuff and retire to Belize.
Just for grins, I asked chatGPT to write something in the style of something I wrote. Well, turns out that I'm clearly not in its LLM (that's okay, nobody else reads my fiction, either).
I won't torture you with the full ten paragraphs, but here's one gem:
"The Mirror, a relic from the old world, was said to possess the power to reveal the future—and the deepest desires of the heart. But it had been shattered, scattered across the MagicLand like a constellation of broken stars."
ChatGPT, I'm afraid ya lost me on the broken metaphor, "broken stars." My third grade teacher would have rapped me on the knuckles for that one (yes, I'm old enough to have had teachers like this, and yes, she really would have).
I'm not dismissing the threat of AI to writers, of course. That would be stupid. Especially now that Microsoft has invented a new state of matter it plans to use in Quantum Computing (for realz).
But for now, I'll keep writing, while raising one middle finger very high in the air at the tech bros who are trying to make humans obsolete.
I don't write with AI help, period.