Everyone figured AI would gut creative writing, turning novels into algorithm slop overnight. But Stephen Marche’s experiment—writing a novel using AI—flips the script. It’s not replacement; it’s augmentation, forcing writers to sharpen what machines can’t touch: taste, intent, that raw human spark.
That’s AI!
A playground shout from a 10-year-old girl, nailing the emperor’s new clothes before execs clutching their stock options even blink. Marche kicks off with this gem, and damn if it doesn’t cut deep.
I recently heard an exchange at a playground that should worry the executives at AI companies more than any analyst’s prediction of a bubble. A boy and a girl, maybe 10 years old, were fighting. “That’s AI! That’s AI!” the girl was shouting. What she meant was that the boy was indulging a new and particular breed of nonsense: language that sounds meaningful but has no connection to reality. The children have figured the new world out quickly, as they do.
Spot on. Kids—unburdened by boardroom BS—smell the fakery. And here’s my twist, one Marche doesn’t chase: this echoes photography’s birth in the 1830s. Painters panicked, fearing obsolescence. Instead? Art pivoted to impressionism, abstraction—styles cameras botched. AI novels? Same deal. They’re forcing writers toward unmachineable depths, not doom.
Why Did We Expect AI to Kill Writing Jobs?
Look, hype cycles gonna hype. OpenAI drops ChatGPT, and suddenly every scribbler imagines pink slips. Expectations ran apocalyptic: novels churned in seconds, authors obsolete. But Marche, who’s been at this since 2017—Wired story, NYT-reviewed AI novel Death of an Author—shows the reality. AI handles the grunt work, the ‘quotidian language’ of essays, memos. Frees humans for the good stuff.
Self-published Shy Girl sails through until AI whispers hit. Readers didn’t care; publishers did. Why? Snobbery, sure—but also fear of the unknown. Marche nails it: 86% of students use AI (14% liars, ha). Sentence-crafting bootcamp? Gone. But that’s not loss; it’s evolution.
Architecturally, Transformers—the T in all this—bet on language as abstraction’s king. Vaswani et al. bucked image/math trends. Right call. Now language powers everything, humanities’ revenge. Tech bros preach ‘taste’ next; how’s that forged? Reading. Writing. Human grind.
But here’s the rub—and my bold callout on OpenAI’s spin: they peddle total disruption while quietly begging for human feedback loops (RLHF). Without us curating their cliche factories, they’re toast.
How Do Transformers Make AI a Cliche Machine?
Short answer: prediction. Next-token guesswork excels at averages—formula essays, script skeletons, code. Feed it ‘write a rom-com,’ get masterfully mediocre output. Literary slop, optimized.
Generative models are fundamentally cliche machines. If you ask AI to write a film script, it will produce an average film script masterfully. If you ask it to write an essay, it will produce an average essay masterfully.
Marche’s right. Banal mastery? Automated. Value shifts to purpose: What unique effect can you wield with words? That’s the new bar.
Italian researchers jailbreak LLMs with poetry for bomb recipes. Language hacks the machine—poetic revenge, indeed. Why? Transformers swim in patterns; poetry warps them. Humans? We live the warp.
And chess. God, chess. AI remade it pre-ChatGPT. Grandmasters train with engines now. But champ Gukesh? Coach held off AI till his creativity solidified. Avoided bad habits—sterile tactics—then integrated. Result: world title.
Why the Chess Path Is Writers’ Blueprint?
Don’t automate your practice; orchestrate it. Be the pusher, not the button. Marche’s Infinite Prayer for Peace? AI spits endless variants, but he designs the prompt-box alchemy. Human frame, machine fill.
Two paths suck: Luddite denial, or full automation (soulless). Reality? Hybrid. Early adopters carve trails through the slop.
My prediction—the one Marche hints but doesn’t land: In five years, top authors won’t hide AI; they’ll flaunt symphonies of human-AI loops. Like conductors with orchestras, we’ll shape vast linguistic ensembles. Photography didn’t kill painters; it birthed modern art. Transformers? Birth of hyper-personalized prose.
Value yourselves, writers. Language is power now. AI amplifies; you direct.
Don’t chase filler. Killer only.
Push boundaries—jailbreak your own limits.
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Frequently Asked Questions
Will AI replace novelists?
No. It handles cliches; humans deliver soul and purpose. Chess pros use AI but win with creativity.
How do you write a novel using AI?
Prompt iteratively, edit ruthlessly, infuse intent. Marche’s Death of an Author: AI draft, human polish.
Is AI writing detectable?
Kids spot it as nonsense. Tools help, but taste trumps detection.
