It is not surprising that the habit of reading is slowly declining. But is the art of writing edging towards an end as well?

Could it be possible that the AI invasion is in motion? The fear of replacement due to automation can be dated back to the early 1800s, an era where the mechanization of manufacturing, agriculture, and several new modes of transportation was introduced. The fear spread like wildfire. Fear is an extremely strong stimulant in all animals, including humans. The fear of being replaced by a lifeless assembly erected with the help of a few screws, nuts, and bolts incited resentment for the technology which led to several protests in the early nineteenth century. But times changed, and people learned to grow hand-in-hand with technology. By the dawn of the 20th century, technology and automation were the closest allies of the human race. Ever since the growth has always been onward and accelerated.

Researchers worldwide have been immensely invested in replicating human behaviour in robots, enabling machines and computing systems to perceive, synthesize, and infer information similar to humans. These fruitful attempts, commonly labelled as Artificial Intelligence or AI have been a revolutionary development in the field of information and technology. NLP or Natural Language Processing, Machine Vision, and Speech Recognition are some specific examples of AI.

The former fear once again got ignited as the AI became capable of responding to customer inquiries on websites and applications in a specific structured format. And from there to the leap of tools like Wordsmith, and Quill, and now to the most recent global hot topic ChatGPT, the growth of AI is quite enviable. Ultimately, yes, the AI is capable of producing content compliant with a set of guidelines and yes, this can feel slightly threatening. While artificial intelligence can produce content to a particular requirement, there are a few things that AI isn’t equipped yet to replicate.

1. Addition of anecdotes

What makes a good piece of work great and credible is the addition of anecdotes from personal experience or verified sources. Artificial intelligence may be smart, but it cannot tell your story as you do. When the words that go on to the paper (or the laptop screen) pass through the heart before hitting the fingertips, that can make the artificial intelligence quiver for originality.

2. Incorporation of the art

Writing is an art, and every person who wields words to effectively express a thought or an idea is an artist. Each artist has a unique style which when tried to replicate becomes a duplicate. By indulging in the art of writing and developing a unique style for yourself, it is possible to outsmart AI in its advancement to invade your territory.

3. Inclusion of expert opinions and analysis

Building authenticity to the work is undoubtedly the most effective way to set a standard that artificial intelligence can only hope to achieve. Including the personal analysis of the data acquired and adding value to the content with opinions and bytes from experts in the related field is a foolproof course of action to make the piece of content authentic, relevant, and inimitable by AI.

4. Stay ahead of the trends

Stay up-to-date or be outdated. With the rapidity at which the world around us is changing, so are the language and the lingo. Adapting to the different trends and accommodating them into your writing without upsetting the uniqueness of your style can help in staying relevant. To state some facts, people who got replaced by automation in the industry feel that the machines are eating up jobs three times over the actual percentage and those who navigate their boats alongside the automated industry assume the percentage to be twice as much as the true value. Hence, the ‘feeling’ that you could probably lose your job to artificial intelligence may be heavily clouded by the fear factor.

Every new revolutionary invention or discovery is always accompanied by disruption. AI is well on its way to causing some major disruption in the market. Speaking specifically about the writing segments, yes, certain AI tools can potentially kill some of the writing jobs, but we must also understand that the disruption will also open new opportunities.

The most efficient way forward for writers is to accept the non-human competition, assess it, and use it to their advantage. We leverage our option to be assisted by artificial intelligence in our pursuit of greater creative excellence. This is also an opportunity for us to explore our capacity at a higher level. Writing is an art form that has survived and thrived through several millennia. No AI, no human technology can eradicate it. People may not be indulging in the joy of reading a physical book as much as they did earlier, but the stories reach them in the format of audiobooks, podcasts, or television shows, all of which writing is fundamental.

So writing isn’t disappearing anywhere!