Can artificial intelligence (AI) write a story? A good story is something AI will never be able to craft, no matter how well we prompt it. Those who think AI will take their job as storytellers don’t know what storytelling is. A good story plays on the delicate strings that make us human: experiences, memories, dreams and regrets, thoughts and feelings. Because only another human can really understand them, that’s why you need human writers. No AI tool will ever be able to describe someone’s day, let alone their feelings. They wouldn’t know what happened to me (or you) today. They don’t know what images came to my mind today when I worked out and how they inspired me to start something big. Try asking ChatGPT what matters to you and why. Pointless, right? Everything beautiful in our world is a non-AI creation. Everything worth writing down as a story is a human story (even the children’s stories with animal characters are still from a human perspective). You cannot look at a painting AI created and think: “Wow! It speaks to me!” You cannot listen to only a computer-created song and resonate with it on a deeper level. Storytelling is a form of art. The author collects and reorganises what happens in the world. It helps the reader make sense of the world, but even more importantly, make sense of themselves. A good storyteller asks, listens, and immerses themselves into (human) situations to feel and resonate on a level no AI invention could ever do. A good storyteller connects with their subjects and looks them in the eyes. I am not against AI. It’s a wonderful story editor and a great support for freelancers. It can find typos and suggest missing pieces of information or facts. It can help you reword paragraphs. In my work, I use Claude as a storyline editor. Perplexity for facts and data (because it comes with verifiable sources) and ChatGPT to translate. But I would never give the whole story to a computer to write. And trust me, I have tried! It kills the vibe. It takes all the flavour and feeling out of it. Only perfectly written words are left. But that’s not how humans write or live. A good story is imperfect, like its writer. (Just like the photo below. It was taken on a beautiful day during our honeymoon this summer in Sweden. And yes, it's a whole other story how we got there)
I was so against using AI for writing like an angry granny is against digitalization, but I hit a really bad writer's block about a year ago and found chatGPT a really nice chap to lean on in hard times :D
Digital Content Strategist | Creative Storyteller | SEO-Savvy Copywriter | Driving Engagement & Growth for Media and Brands
3wI’ve been using AI for some months now and feel exactly the same. I’ve tried making my stories better with ChatGPT and it mostly takes the soul out if it. 🥲