ChatGPT and AI writing
ChatGPT and the like are already working in the economy, creatng first-draft or low-/mid-value content. In the hands of experienced writers and editors, this is a huge time- and money-saver. This alone is “worth it”. There are many uses for this outside of creating search engine bait and gaming Google.
The outputs of ChatGPT or other AI-based writing can easily be abused, just like any writing. You could use it to generate (merely) SEO-based content. You could fail to read and edit its outputs. You could consume this content without being critical. All these things already happen today. Just because content is generated by some AI doesn’t change the basic rules of reading, writing, and criticizing.
A big challenge I see with ChatGPT or any AI writer is that it “break” the writing learning process.
It can easily and affordably replace first-draft or low-level writing, for the use of currently experienced writers and editors. Unfortunately, writers become good writers by writing, and they frequently start by writing content like this. If there is no more opportunity to learn through this kind of writing, how are we going to make the next generation of writers?
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