Where Passion Goes to Die
The End of Creativity in the Age of Gen AI
Is this it then? The end of creativity? The end of original thought? Is this when I finally put down my pen and concede one of the last great joys of my life?
As a writer, I’ve been asking myself this for weeks.
Formulating thoughts and getting them onto paper has been a challenge again. I’ve been quite unwell physically and facing intense overwhelm from juggling chronic illness, a full-time job, and a busy family life as a autistic, perimenopausal woman. But that isn’t the entire reason why I haven’t posted in this space much recently.
Quite frankly, I wonder what the point even is anymore. AI has successfully (and disturbingly) transformed the creative landscape and I don’t see how we can ever get back to the way it once was. Maybe save for a complete digital collapse as a society and the death of AI as a whole? But I am not holding my breath for that possibility just yet.
Generative AI is the place where passion and creativity go to die. I hate that I can’t exist online anymore without being forced to see its filth clogging up every corner of the internet.
I spent some time re-reading my writing from the past few years and it kind of broke my heart. I love the writing I have done, but I suspect that it would likely get called out as AI simply because I am meticulous about using correct grammar and many common literary tools. But it’s not AI at all. My thoughts are my own and come from the depths inside me, expressed through the craft of writing which I have studied and practiced for most of my life.
My writing has particularly improved over the past two years in conjunction with a major increase in my reading habits. I’ve read around 150 books over the past few years from a wide range of genres and time periods. I have always loved books, but I wasn’t this big of a reader in my youth. Discovering my love for reading in adulthood has unlocked a whole new world for my writing.
But the AI police don’t know that, and they don’t care. I suspect many of the ones hurling accusations at genuine creators lack their own deep understanding and education in language and technique.
And to the actual fraudsters using Gen AI to cheat your way to the top: You who are riding on the backs of those of use who have gone through the real creative trenches, you who have poisoned the well of good literature and art, may you, respectfully of course, fuck right off.
Most of us are becoming all too familiar with the supposed AI tells... the em dashes, the rule of three, the oxford commas, and so on... But if we intentionally dumb down our work, if we stop using the tools we’ve worked our whole careers to master, what are we left with as writers? A bunch of nonsensical junk with bad grammar and no nuance?
Probably. No thank you.
Writing, and reading good writing, is healing and I am not about to give up that lifeline. I am just so tired. I was angry for a while, but I am too tired to be angry anymore. I’ve mostly gone back to a paper journal and the chances are, most of it will never be seen by another pair of eyes again outside of my family. Because publishing has also become a joke. Getting published and finding readers is a nightmare. It’s always been hard, but now with the industry saturated with AI slop authors churning out full length books every other day, it’s over for us real writers.
Or is it?
Where do we go from here?