By Natalie Peirce
At the moment, it feels as though we can’t go a single day without stumbling across AI. Whether it’s an article about students using ChatGPT to write their essays, influencers using AI to modify their pictures and videos, or companies shoehorning AI assistants into the software they produce. It is everywhere and, outside of a small amount of experimentation, I tend to avoid using it. AI is simply a tool that I choose not to use.
Don’t get me wrong, AI can be an absolutely fantastic tool. In the world of biology, it has been used to create AlphaFold – a system that predicts protein structures with incredible accuracy. This can help us to better understand how they interact with drugs and other substances, which has the potential to lead to great advancements in medicine and agriculture. In eye surgery, it has been used to design the RayOne Galaxy – a new kind of multifocal lens that can be used during cataract surgery and is quickly becoming a favourite of both patients and surgeons.
However, like any tool, AI has been used in ways that it, probably, shouldn’t have been. Perhaps one of the most infamous examples of this comes from a paper published in 2024, which used AI generated images. After passing through two peer reviewers and the editor, no one noticed the non-sensical words or the massive, and biologically inaccurate, rat penis in the figures. The paper was retracted three days after it was published but, by that point, the image of the well-endowed rat had already done the rounds on social media. Even earlier this, in 2023, a lawyer was caught using AI to do research for one of his cases. This led to six non-existent cases being cited in his arguments, as the lawyer was, apparently, unaware that the AI could make up information.
While AI still has plenty of room to improve, it is already putting many people’s livelihoods in danger. After all, why would anyone pay an artist for their talent and time when an AI can spit out an image for them to use in seconds? Why do the research for something when an AI can give you exactly the answers that you want?
It seems that one of the industries being hit hardest by this AI revolution is the writing industry – the very industry that I intend to become a part of. Ever since the age of eleven, it has been my dream to be able to write for a living. Granted, I look back and cringe at most of my work, especially the earlier stuff, but I still have all of it. I can look at it at any time and see how far my writing’s come. I can see my experiments with voice and perspective, my dabbling in different genres, and even my dire attempts at writing comedy. It may not be perfect, but it’s entirely mine.
But then comes the question – why pay a person to write something when an AI can write a perfectly passible piece at the click of a button? For a lot of people and companies alike, it simply isn’t worth the time and energy to write anymore. And for those of us who write simply for the joy of it, it is getting harder and harder to fashion a career out of what we love.
However, I don’t think that AI will completely rid world the writers. This isn’t the first time in human history where entire industries have been put under threat. It also isn’t the first time that those industries have stubbornly refused to disappear. Cobblers still make their shoes. Jewellers still set their stones and sculpt their rings. Lacemakers still weave cotton and silk into intricates patterns.
Despite machines being perfectly capable of making shoes, rings, and lace, these craftsmen still survive. People still want that human touch, that uniqueness, that imperfection. They want to know that what they have has been made with love and skill and not by stoic, metal arms. And these craftsmen still want to create, to experiment, to learn. Machines haven’t stopped them doing that.
Likewise, writers still want to write. Whether it’s a story that has been stuck in their head for years or a review of the latest advancements in genetic engineering. AI will, eventually, end up taking most of their jobs, but those writers will still keep writing. People will still want to read their work, knowing that it’s their voice and not some amalgamation of voices generated in minutes. They want those writing quirks, that overarching narrative, that imagination that AI can’t provide. Not yet, anyway.
AI is advancing every day and will continue to be used in an increasing number of ways. That much is inevitable. Jobs will be taken over and industries will be dominated by artificial minds. But, in spite of what the future may hold, I still will want to write. I still want to use my own voice, my own words, no matter how imperfect they may be. AI isn’t going to change that. I will just make it harder to make a living from it.
You can find the sources that I used for this piece here.
Natalie's notebook 