Advocating A Writer's Purpose

        I’ve always believed that the most beautiful aspect of writing is that it creates a platform for people to be imaginative and creative because of how they see the world differently. It always created a platform for me to be imaginative and creative because of how I always saw the world differently. So, what happens when the art of imagination and creativity is being threatened? You get a scenario where the aspect of writing is taken over by artificial intelligence (A.I.). Many people who are already familiar with A.I. are already aware of how its usage has impacted on many aspects of our lives, especially when it comes to writing. I’m sure that many people are already aware of how writers have used A.I. to create writing pieces and stories. Some people may be ok with this scenario, but not only am I against it, but I’m terrified by the reality of it.

      I’m terrified by the idea that creative writers such as myself could one day be replaced by the influence of artificial intelligence. Imagine, you spent your whole life dreaming about becoming a successful writer someday while having people already tell you that it’s not a promising career, you’re not going to make any money from it, and you’re most likely never going to find a well-paying job as a writer. Now imagine yourself having a desire to become a writer, but not only is someone telling you that the idea of it is unrealistic, but now the concept of any human being becoming a writer may no longer exist due to the advancement of technology. As a creator this is one of the most terrifying concepts of life for an artist to imagine because artificial intelligence could potentially be a death sentence for art and creativity as we know it.

     To better understand the seriousness of this situation, think of it like this. In a world today that already feels bleak, grim, dim, and depressing, it’s part of human nature to find something as an outlet for escapism. For some people that outlet is found in reading fictional books, writing fictional stories, writing poetry, and doing other activities involving English literature. What makes it an escape is being able to dive deep inside the mind of someone’s creativity and imagination, while also being able to explore your own mind and express your creative imagination as well. When it comes to reading, people love being able to feel someone’s passion through the words that are written on paper. When it comes to writing, people love being able to pour their hearts out and express their passion through the words they write on paper. What passion do you think a person would feel if they read something that came from a robot? There wouldn’t be any feeling of passion at all because A.I. is not designed to be passionate, it’s designed to follow instructions. A.I. is programed to follow any orders that’s given to them, but they don’t do it with intense passion. If you were to interact with an A.I. machine you wouldn’t hear anything but empty hollowness in its voice. That’s why if anyone were to use ChatGPT and ask A.I. to write a story about a topic, you wouldn’t get anything as far as passionate character-driven storytelling. What you would get instead is something that reads more like an instructional manual than a story because A.I. operates on technical and mechanical structure instead of creativity and imagination.

      As someone who’s an award-winning journalist, I put passion, hard work, creativity, and imagination into the writing process for all the blogs that I write for the non-profit organization that I work with known as Verge of Independence Project: Multimedia Autism Advocacy. Even with the other articles I wrote in the past that received publication in public media platforms, I put so much effort into creating thought-provoking creative writing pieces. One example would be in the year 2014 when I was a junior in high school. I participated as an intern at the oldest performing arts venue known as the Walnut Street Theater, for an internship known as Seeing the Stage Through Our Eyes. I watched the final dress rehearsal of a Broadway play written by Jon Robin Baitz, known as Other Desert Cities. When it came time to write my article, I used creativity and imagination to write an article about the grieving process and how Other Desert Cities have many similarities to another play written by Sophocles known as Antigone. That article received publication in the Philadelphia Inquirer on Sunday, February 16, 2014.

      Now, think about the multiple works of literature that you’ve read throughout your life that you have always enjoyed. From Harry Potter to Lord of the Rings, to Twilight, to Percy Jackson and the Olympians, to The Hunger Games, and even Bridgerton. Do you know what makes these works of literature timeless and iconic? Authors were willing to put in their hard work and passion into creating a memorable story with memorable characters and important themes through the usage of creativity and imagination. Imagine if all that written work was to be written by artificial intelligence. Would you be able to enjoy these stories the same way? Or would these stories suddenly lose their magical spark due to the stories becoming more technical, mechanical, empty, and hollow. Even when it comes to other forms of creative media such as movies and tv shows, think about all the films and shows you watched growing up that you loved so much that it inspired you to become filmmakers, script writers, actors, actresses, set designers, and other professions that relate to creativity and imagination. Would you still have those same dreams and desires if the movies and shows you grew up on were rewritten by artificial intelligence?

     Having a creative and imaginative mindset plays a crucial part of our culture when it comes to the entertainment industry. Having the ability to create a timeless classic is something that human beings value and cherish because it creates a fictional universe that people can escape from when life becomes too difficult and overwhelming. People can have that escapism because they’re able to have an emotional connection with the story and the characters who are written in the story. If that’s taken over by artificial intelligence, how will people be able to emotionally connect with the story and its characters, when everything is written by a machine that’s not designed to convey any human emotion at all?

     Overall, I believe in the power and creative ability of storytelling that comes from human authors because I strongly advocate for imagination and creativity when it comes to storytelling. There are so many passionate individuals out there who have a story within them that’s worth telling. I don’t want the opportunity to be taken away from them because of the advancement of technology, and the popular rise of artificial intelligence. I want to make it loud and clear that the imagination and creativity of passionate human writers is far greater than the mechanical and technological structure of artificial intelligence.