To AI or Not to AI

Alex had long been something of a rock star with his novels, a series of masterpieces that had begun when he was just 18 years old. For four years after that he added another novel in the series every year. It was his main income. He worked at a library, but his stories brought in much more money. An article in the local paper said that he was an A1 writer.

But then, like many a aging rock star he began to lose his a chunk of his creativity. He had left his many readers hanging, with people asking him when the next one was coming out. People would see him on the street or contact him on-line and ask the deadly question. His reply was ‘its coming’, something he did not completely believe He began to feel that a next one might just not happen. He would write a few pages and then tear them up as worthless junk, not worthy of publication. It seemed to demean the heroic nature of the ‘good guys’ and made little more than comedic figures of the villains of his books.

He had yelled at his girl friend Alice when she agreed out loud with his silent thoughts that he had run out of good plots and believable human beings, good and bad. She suggested that maybe this was on the end of his series, and even possibly of his whole writing career. The most encouraging she could be was that he should wait a while before writing again.

For him this was a definite betrayal, and he told her so. She left in a hurry. He had not seen or heard from her since that unfortunate day. She did not pick up her phone on the times when he called her to apologize, or respond to his e-mails saying that he was wrong to have yelled at her. And he certainly did not have the nerve to go knocking on her door. That would be too much of a rejection.

Should he give up on his novels? He certainly did not want to do that. Then he came up with a different idea, one that he would not share with anyone. He would use AI to do the bulk of the writing. He would write a fundamental sketch of the characters, program them into the machines, and then let AI create new stories. Sure it was a sellout on his part, but at least he would still make money and gain further fame for what the machines manufactured. He was definitely at his most desperate at this point.

It Did Not Take Long

The AI mechanical ‘author’ filled the pages of two books in less than a weekend’s time. The big question now for Alex was whether he should summit these two books to his publisher. He suspected that the publisher would automatically print up many copies without actually reading the two AI books. Alex had made a good profit for the publisher, and the man would want that profit to continue at any cost.

But should he do this? This would definitely be selling out, but at least it would be selling something. But it would seem to be treating his readers with little or no respect. He would give himself another day before he would make a final decision in the matter.

The day of waiting had ended, but he still had not decided on what he should do. He thought about movies that had been interesting and enjoyable in their first editions but rotted in their multiple sequels. Did he really want to follow that sellout path?

A Knock on the Door

Just as Alex was trying to get those thoughts out of his head, there was a knock on the door. It had been a long time now since a reader had come to get a signature of his latest book.

He was in for a very pleasant surprise. It was Alice.

She ran to him and gave him a big hug. And he returned the favour. He then started to tell her about what he had been thinking about with regards to using AI to write the sequels of his novels.

She looked at him in shock and surprise, and quickly replied by saying “Your books are too good for you to succumb to such trash. You will write again. I am absolutely certain of it”.

Those few spoken words did more for him than all his internal debates. He smiled in a way in which he hadn’t done for days now. He asked her whether she wanted a cup of coffee. She simply nodded her head, and he rushed into the kitchen to make their coffee.

When he returned to the living room with two coffees and two slices of cake, she told him that she had an idea that could possibly be very useful for his returning to his writing.

“Alex, we both know very well that one of the characters in your book is a writer, albeit not the leading character, one that you have slightly mocked in the past. Why don’t you have him go through what you have been dealing with in terms of writer’s block? Have him decide that he should use AI to continue his series. Take some ideas that your ‘unpublished’ AI writers have scratched together with your books, and use passages to show how badly they write.xxThe humour that would come from this could be something that could get you going with your sequels. What do you think about this idea Alex?”

Alex Was Stunned

Alex was stunned by the brilliance of her idea. He could in a manner of minutes hear in his mind some passages that would make this idea work. He gave her a big hug like the one she had first greeted him with and then told her some of the text that had rushed into his mind, text borrowed from what the AI had written. She laughed and flashed a big smile.

Alex Writes Again

They exchanged ideas for the next book, ideas that Alex quickly wrote down on the pad of paper that he permanently kept in his living room. He told her that he would type this material up and send it to her for her approval or criticism.

What he did not tell her was that her name would be on the cover. In two weeks the book was finished and sent to a very happy publisher, and an equally happy Alice.

When he was interviewed on a local television station a short time after the publication, both the interviewer and some members of the audience would speak highly of the humour in the book, that he should keep that as a part of the next few books he would write. And he did.