Forum: Being human is at the heart of why we read and write
Sign up now: Get ST's newsletters delivered to your inbox
I refer to the Forum reply “ NLB uses AI to complement authors’ efforts, so their stories reach wider audiences
With a background in writing, translation, as well as education, I emphasise that I am not writing to defend my rice bowl but to plead for open conversation and thoughtful debate.
Why do I read? To know that someone else has experienced the same hopes and pains, fears and dreams; to know I am not alone in my humanness.
It is a connection to someone else’s heart. And something created using artificial intelligence (AI) software like StoryGen lacks the humanness we seek when we are lonely.
I am also writing as someone who has taught creative writing to children and young people for over 13 years. I have witnessed the transformation from ambivalence and a lack of self-esteem in one’s abilities to a blooming of hope, light bulbs coming on, an inner search and confidence in one’s words.
Writing is so much more than words appearing on paper in a grammatically correct sentence, peppered with suitable nouns, verbs, adjectives and adverbs in a suitable tense – which is what AI can do.
Writing is an inward search for meaning, and can even be a form of therapy. It is a search for understanding in a world that is fractured, and a way to elucidate how one feels.
If that energy spent thinking about developing character, plot, setting and dialogue is spent on prompting AI to think of a good character, plot, setting or dialogue, we are robbing ourselves – of imagination.
Imagination is what sustains us during difficult times, imagination is what helps us solve real-life problems and imagination leads to understanding, joy and resilience.
The success of a nation that loves to read and write cannot be measured by any grades or KPIs met. So, let us use our imaginations to have real dialogue about what is important to preserve in our society where there are ever-changing pressures.
What do we want to leave behind for future generations?
Is pumping money and energy into AI going to prompt curiosity or prompt prompts that flatten out curiosity, leading to children becoming adults who have lost most of the light in their eyes?
Amanda Ruiqing Flynn
