AI writing is perfect but characterless and noticeably so

AI is a language master. It writes perfectly. Perfect grammar. It is faultless in terms of pure writing skills. And it can summarise complex texts rapidly and perfectly. It is hugely impressive and reassuring. One can be in awe of AI. Some people ask it to write long articles and even whole books or edit books. It also has a mastery of poetry. Instant poetry.

AI writing is perfect in all ways but tends to be characterless and hollow. This image was created by AI.

 

And there lies the problem. It's instant perfection is like an instant pot noodle meal: characterless. Almost bland. Vanilla, beige. Magnolia. Perfect magnolia. And people are beginning to recognise AI stories and articles.

After one has lost that awe you start to miss the imperfect writing of humans because it has a genuine voice born of emotions. AI does not have emotions. If it seems to express emotions it is entirely artificial. Fake.

These are my personal views but they are matched by others including book agents who report that they are receiving far too many books written by AI. The managing director of Greene & Heaton said that their business had seen a "change in the nature of many of our submissions" during the past year.

He mentioned that "AI editing tools can really flatten your writing." This must be a reference to authors writing the text and asking AI to check it for typos and grammar.

What AI then likes to do is to 'polish' the text as it sees fit (it does this in a patronising way incidentally). The result: AI-style text. A tendency towards bland perfection as mentioned. The author loses her voice thanks to convenience.

Agents can recognise it. Nicky Lander an executive at the Bright Agency agrees that AI can be useful for illustrators but it "can suppress an author's voice." The same problem. The character of the author does not shine through the written word when created by AI.

Authors need their voice. It is the only way they can stand out and be different. AI is homogenised. 

Book agents are beginning to reject copy that they believe is AI written. The language in noticeable. It is the same with AI videos on YouTube. The same machine-gun perfection. It becomes tiresome and I for one am returning to my own writing.

Because content websites have been smashed by AI it becomes unfeasible to take too long in preparing articles. One turns to AI for speed. But this is not the true answer I am afraid.

Although AI is great at writing legal text. And understanding how to prepare legal documents. But these are meant to be bland and perfect! A perfect match up for AI.

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P.S. please forgive the occasional typo. These articles are written at breakneck speed using Dragon Dictate. I have to prepare them in around 20 mins. Also, sources for news articles are carefully selected but the news is often not independently verified. And, I rely on scientific studies but they are not 100% reliable. Finally, (!) I often express an OPINION on the news. Please share yours in a comment.