AI Drift and Heartless Writing

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A Hole the Size of Poetry

In my day job, I've gotten used to picking up on AI-generated text. I caught a few examples earlier this semester, but for the most part, it hasn't been a major concern.Now, almost a year since ChatGPT became a major concern for the literary community, its CEO has been booted and those in the tech sector have noticed something called "AI drift," which essentially seems to make generative text, as well as code, noticeably worse. Here at the review, we got one or two AI-generated stories at the beginning of this year, but as many predicted, the most toxic outcomes of ChatGPT in the literary world are related to copyright violations and labor disputes.On my own, I've tested out ChatGPT as a "rough draft machine" a few times, and it usually spits out a standard outline that summarizes information without offering new insight. This week, I tried to give it the following prompt: "Write a story that comforts the afflicted and afflicts the comforted," and it produced a pile of cliches and vague language about someone named Eleanor in a town where the harmonies were melodious and the melodies were harmonious, that kind of thing.I used this prompt because I've been reading and rereading Anne Boyer's resignation letter from the New York Times Magazine. She resigned from her role as poetry editor earlier this week in protest of the magazine's approach to covering Israel's blockade and siege of Gaza. It's a blunt letter that I encourage you all to read if you haven't yet. In Boyer's words: "I can’t write about poetry amidst the ‘reasonable’ tones of those who aim to acclimatize us to this unreasonable suffering. No more ghoulish euphemisms. No more verbally sanitized hellscapes. No more warmongering lies.If this resignation leaves a hole in the news the size of poetry, then that is the true shape of the present." 

Boyer's articulation of the problems with the war, and how it has been covered, gets at the root of war coverage in the US writ large: That private industries stand to benefit from the conflict. These are not the same industries that run AI programs, but they belong to the same class of people who see suffering, desperation, destruction, and oppression, and view it as an opportunity.Good writing, I think, should provide comfort to the afflicted and afflict the comforted. This is true of everything from poetry to journalism to stand-up comedy. Sanitizing violence, or outright ignoring it, does the opposite. It's that same sanitized language that seeks to minimize the human cost of conflict that makes me suspicious of a writer's intent, as well as their authenticity. Writing that is figuratively heartless increasingly has the cadence and depth of an author who is literally heartless, robotic and stilted and only able to normalize the status quo, rather than demand an end to the bloodshed.I don't know how to keep writing these days, but I do know that nothing can replace the need for writers. Boyer asserts that refusal is sometimes the best form of self-expression. If the absence of poetry is uncomfortable, does that inspire a greater attention to the absence of water and food and medicine?But I still hope you keep writing, because I still believe the world needs it.Peace,Keene ShortEditor-in-ChiefAtticus Review

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