…but someone who can do it with AI might.
I’ve heard a lot of different takes on how AI is (or isn’t) going to lead to mass unemployment and a total collapse of the economy. Almost all of it is either sensationalist doom-porn, or riddled with unquestioned assumptions and lazy thinking. But this guy brings up some really interesting points, and seems to have a better answer on it than most.
Of course, we won’t really know for sure until this all plays out. And I do know some programmers who really have lost their job due to AI-driven downsizing, so depending on the career path, it’s still a very valid concern.
As for how this will all play out with books and writing, I’m not too concerned. I do think there’s a fair chance that in the long-term, most successful writers will use AI in their creative process. But the tools really aren’t anywhere close to completely replacing authors—not even the frontier models like Fable and Sol. I say that as someone who writes with AI, and who has generated and read more than a million AI words in the last 12 months. And even if the models do become that good, writing is more similar to flying and airplane than operating an elevator. I don’t think AI will ever be able to fully replace an author’s vision and voice.
