People have started comparing AI writing to store bought cake—fine enough but shouldn’t be passed off as homemade.
And sure, okay, but note: shaming someone for buying a cake instead of making it from scratch is a real jerk move.
Also, a lot of people who bake cakes these days start from a box mix and doctor it up.
Yeah, this metaphor seems like it’s working…
It’s okay to want to know how a cake was made, but it should be because you like it and are curious… not some kind of gotcha trick.
Thing is, if a cake isn’t good… it doesn’t matter whether it’s store bought or not. You just won’t want to eat it.
Same deal for writing. If it’s good, neat! Maybe I want to know how it’s made because I like it! If not… well, that’s a problem no matter the method behind it.
Seriously, though, I’ve been writing fiction for more than twenty years. I am very good at it. That’s just objectively true.
However, I’ve spent those same decades utterly failing to get to where I can reliably write song lyrics, but with AI, now I can write the songs I always wanted.
Claude can write flash fiction, lyrics, essays, social media posts…
It’s just a matter of time until AI can write novels that are actually good. And most people can’t write a novel at all.
I think I’m still gonna want to write from scratch, but it’s just silly to think everyone should have to.
I think one of the things that a lot of writers miss is that we don’t just bake cakes to prove we’re good at baking — we do it because there are people who want to eat the cake.
And that applies to writing just as much. We don’t write just to prove we can; we write to communicate something.
And if AI can help you to communicate what’s inside of you more clearly and powerfully, then that’s exactly what it’s for.