WHY AI SHOULD MAKE YOU STOP WRITING BOOKS

Spoiler: it shouldn’t.

Don’t let it.

This may feel like old news in some ways now, as it’s been a bit since the LibGen debacle.

Along with millions of other authors, two of my books were stolen. Sowing and Quelling were pirated and used, without my permission, to train Meta’s AI.

In the wake of that news, I was somewhere between indifferent/numb and furious.

I was furious on behalf of the many authors who have poured their hearts and lives into their books, only to see them stolen, used like that – for something that feels like a massive slap in the face, a punch to the gut.

I originally started this post then, but after trying for a bit, the words just weren’t coming. So I put it aside, planning to return later.

It’s been weeks (months?), but here I am, haha, with my thoughts about AI that I told a few people I was working on.

I know it’s a bit late in the game now, but if were part of that, or if your book(s) has/have ever been stolen, I’m so sorry.

If you were watching it unfold, wondering what the point of writing is when it will just get stolen someday, hating the lack of control over what may happen to your hard work...

I see you. I get it.

This isn’t about how the ethics or tech of AI.

I don’t know enough about it to get into that.

What I do know is this:

AI will never truly replace or undermine human creativity, heart, mind, spirit, or soul.

If you are discouraged, afraid, or wonder what the point is in writing books – what the point is in pouring your heart onto paper, in pushing through the struggles and tears, in fighting to create and share your book(s) with a world that staggers deeper and deeper into falsity and greed and indifference by the day...

What you bring to the table is something no machine can ever replace, for you are lovingly created the image of God – the Great Author, Creator, and Grand Designer of All Things.

AI, at its best, will only ever be a thing created by humans. Which doesn’t even hold a candle to what God creates with His mere words.

Your life has a purpose, you are deeply loved and treasured, and your heart and soul – what you pour into your books – are of infinite worth to the One who made you.

God sees you as worth fighting for, worth dying for, and He has stamped eternity in your heart whether you believe in Him or not.

This is why we, as a race, are collectively drawn toward stories. Why themes like self-sacrifice, courage in the face of danger, light overcoming darkness, good crushing evil, and true love conquering all pulsate inside of us.

If you feel drawn to write stories, He has given you that desire for a reason – to bring Him glory through your words and to help people understand Him better.

(Obviously, He longs for you to do that in partnership with Him, to be in a relationship with Him. But He will ultimately be glorified whether you seek to honor Him or not.)

He is the Author of All, and for those of us who tell stories, He has deemed to share this specific, tiny, amazing spark of Himself.

As such, I believe authors have a unique perspective, a glimpse, if you will, of what it’s like to be God. To make a world that you exist outside of, but that you also put yourself into.

We create our worlds, whether real or magical.

We put our characters through hard times and painful, scary moments – not because we hate them but because we love them and want to see them become what they could be, what we know in our hearts they are. We want them to grow, to become, to step into their destinies.

And we hope that, as we do, we too will grow, become, and will find our own places.

We want to write a good, beautiful story that transcends itself, that speaks to the heart of those who read it.

AI will never be able to do what the human heart and soul instinctively do, because as powerful AI is, as advanced or human-like as it will become, it will never be human.

It can only ever be manmade, not mankind, and even the greatest human invention is subject to its creators’ fate: corruption and decay.

Humans will only ever be made in the image of God. That is what makes the difference.

And for me, it makes all the difference needed.

God has called me to write stories, and He wins in the end. As long as I follow Him and do what He desires, there’s no reason to worry. About AI or anything else.

All shall be set right. And it will be worth it. ____________

Here’s another post I’m not sure about, but I guess I’m posting it haha.

The AI debate has been going on for a while, and I’ve seen it in a lot of different places. There’s a lot more that I could say about this, but I’m not sure if it’s really necessary to go into it. This sums up my thoughts pretty well.

Also, please don’t hear what I’m not saying -- I’m not implying that I have some humanistic view of humanity. I believe what the Bible says about humanity -- that we are fallen and corrupt and hopelessly evil without Christ. However, despite the curse on our race, we are also still made in the image of God and God LOVES us.

And that matters. ❤️

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