If you’ve ever watched the original Star Trek television series, you know to be wary of artificial intelligence. Spoiler alert: Episodes with them rarely end well for the AI. But generative AI is the type of artificial intelligence writers need to be aware of and, perhaps, use as an opportunity.

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Tesla is creating an AI to self-drive your car. I received USAF funding as a jet engine manufacturing engineer to develop a cross-industry AI-based based on flight safety data. And AI products like ChatGPT and others “read” everything openly accessible online.

The latter example is generative AI. A software algorithm lays out a neural network framework not unlike your brain, which “grows” as more information is absorbed. The result is a product that “generates” yet more information.

But it does not create more information. Not yet, anyway. That’s where the worry lies.

For now, generative AI cannot create. It can only mimic what already exists. How well it does this mimicry depends on the quantity of the information provided.

In other words, if you have created a large body of literature, then generative AI can produce what seems, at first glance, to be your writings. And the more massive your body of work, the more accurately generative AI can express itself as you. But you’re not Stephen King, are you?

If you ask generative AI, “Write a book like Stephen King?” that book will read like that famous author until you notice it doesn’t make sense. This nonsensical nature is even more prominent in non-fiction generative AI books. Its content doesn’t make logical sense.

But by then, the harm can already be done by a duped audience member who bought that book and to the original author’s reputation.

Generative AI is a small fraction of the artificial intelligence landscape. It’s not Skynet with hypothetical control of robust military systems bent on taking over the world. It’s a writer, and typically a terrible writer at that.

Ask ChatGPT to generate a story about whatever you like. Then, read it. How was it?

Terrible. That’s how bad it was. It’s perfect while also being wholly emotionless and dull. 

But the worry for writers comes when someone asks a generative AI system to write that story in the style of Stephen King from Christine. It’s still perfect, but now mimics the writing of that book. Now that’s scary.

If you use generative AI to write your English Composition homework assignment when your college professor specifically told you not to, you could face academic discipline repercussions. Why? Because it’s obvious when you use generative AI.

But what if you published a new Stephen King book under that author’s name on Amazon? Well, that’s fraud or should be fraud, even if you don’t get caught right away.

Nefarious characters trying to make a buck with shady practices always exist. They exist because laws are still catching up with this new technology. Further, sites like Amazon institute new review practices to find and eliminate such attempts.

You’ll get a terrible answer if you ask a generative AI a simple question. So, complicate the heck out of your question. The more detailed your question, the better the result.

The result will still be terrible, even with excellent grammar. But this is where your opportunity as an author begins. Now, could you fix it?

Authors get their inspiration from all over the place. Why not generative AI? Consider it just one more writing tool.

What are the acceptable ways you can use this tool to inspire your next novel or book? I think you’d be better off writing your book from scratch. YOU are authentic.

At least until generative AI is better. And AI starts taking over the world.

Tons of generative AI services and tools are available to help you succeed. For instance, I’ve checked my grammar and sentence structure in this article with the Grammarly Editor. Many more tools exist for website development and more.

What we need to remember is that true AI does not yet exist. Maybe it never will. Our AI fears are that it will eventually start to make decisions humans may not like.

But for now, only you are inspired. Only you are innovative. Only you can create.

AI cannot do any of those things. AI can only mimic. But maybe it mimics better grammar than you.

So, use that. Use an AI tool that helps you improve at something you’re not the best at doing yourself. And leave worrying about problematic Star Trek episodes for the AI developers and legislators.

If you don’t have a large body of published work, someone else cannot use generative AI to pretend to be you. Or if they do, it’ll appear not to be your work. But we still need to protect such things from happening to us.

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