As an author who has an artist daughter, I have really been pondering this phenomenon. It feels as if authors, artists, creatives of all manner, are becoming redundant (using the British meaning of the word). Why should we bother anymore?? Honestly, if I had to earn my living writing in the age of AI, I’d panic. Frankly, I didn’t make much income writing anyway. Without a big name, publishers never want to pay you much, and churches expect you to write and speak gratis (it is ministry, after all). Without digressing too much, there is a definite place for voluntarism, but that is juxtaposed with Christian leadership who are cheap and want something for nothing.

AI has helpful uses and harmful. I think “they” (meaning the government) really need to get a handle of protections wrapped around this. Plus, creatives need to take a public stand on just how, if at all, they will employ AI in their work.

In the meantime, I just did a personal experiment. I typed in “Write like Lynn D. Morrissey.” Instantly AI was telling me how to write like me! I will not give you the full scoop here, but I’ll say it gave me instructions of how to write in just the way *I* supposedly write, step by step! Then it gave me a sample writing of mine, and then it did a step by step summary for good measure.

For you, or anyone interested in reading this, here is AI’s sample of a piece of writing that *supposedly* sounds like me:

Example in style:

“Dear friend,

Have you ever felt the words inside you bubbling like water from an artesian well, rising until they can no longer be held back? That’s the gift God has placed in your heart. You are not just a writer—you are His ambassador, commissioned to shapechange the world with truth.

Imagine the crows that once perched in your mind, each one a worry, each one a burden. Now picture them as blackbirds, singing a gentle ‘Bye Bye Blackbird’ as you release them into the wind. Let your pen be the branch that holds them, and your heart the sky that welcomes them away.

Squelch the naysayers—whether they are voices in your head, whispers from others, or the quiet fear of failure. They cannot stop the well. You cannot stop the writing. Write to glorify, to clarify, to beautify, and to satisfy. Write to tell God’s truth and your own.

Your words are building in your bones, beating in your heart, pulsing in your brain. Let them overflow, for you are a passionate Jeremiah, and you cannot not write.”

Lisa, what I find exasperatingly troubling about this, is that this is crappy writing (no logical flow between paragraphs stealing from two distinctly different pieces of my writing, separated by at least twenty years!, that has literally been lifted from my own COPYRIGHTED words (by the way), and inserted them in a way that I would NOT write. That means if anyone wishes to copy (or worse, impersonate me), she can easily do that, and I would never know. Not only would I not be credited and remunerated, BUT I would not have granted permission!!!! And such a bastardization of my writing makes my writing sound awful, frankly. I’d be embarrassed to write like the newly minted AI me!!!

Here are my actual pieces, from which some of these words were lifted (stolen)!

On this piece, which I shared on Jennifer Dukes Lee’s old blog; do scroll down a ways, so you don’t think the screen is empty:

https://jenniferdukeslee.com/featured-tellhisstory-writer-lynn-d-morrissey-and-a-book-giveaway/

And this piece, which I shared with my friend Christin on her old blog, originates in my book, Love Letters to God: Deeper Intimacy through Written Prayer:

https://www.christinditchfield.com/bye-bye-blackbird-lynn-d-morrissey/

So I must tell you that I do not like this particular use of AI and I find it upsetting!

Lynn

The next thing will be AI detectors to prove which AI detectors are accurate. ha. I’m not sure where all this is going to end. I like throwing off mundane tasks onto AI too (like for SEO info, which is a computer issue for algorithms anyway). It frees us up to do more of the creative human work. 🙂

Yes to all those things, Cat. AI is good for a lot of things, but may it never replace people because we are good for a lot of things too! 🙂 I’ve seen reports that people prefer human-generated text over AI-generated text, even when they don’t realize who the writer was. For now anyway, we still naturally gravitate to the humans.

Yes, AI is everywhere now. It seems all the platforms want us to use AI too. It’s an interesting time to be in. I do appreciate the things it can do well; I just don’t want it to become a substitute for our humanity. Sigh.

I’m in total agreement with you, Catherine. If someone wants to use AI for their writing, go for it – but just disclose that fact. We frown on anyone taking someone else’s words as their own when both parties are human; should it be any different for a computer? New technologies will force us to think deeper about our ethical choices.

It’s wonderful that you have an AI policy for your students (who could have imagined even a decade ago that it would be necessary?). I love that you let them know that you care what THEY think, not what AI thinks. That’s how I feel too. Thank you for living this out, and for sharing it here, Jennifer.

I love that your writing is genuine, Jennifer. I feel like I’m getting to know YOU when I read your words. That’s what makes it special. I sense such a flatness when I read things written by AI. The uniqueness is stripped away; who wants that? I prefer a lovely imperfect human any day. 🙂

I like your examples of using AI to help with certain things, Lynn. I use it for those type of things too, and it has been very useful. I do have to remind myself at times that it’s not a person, though. ha. It can be so “personable” in how it chats with us.

I haven’t read Pope Leo’s letter but it sounds like something that would be informative for all of us. I also admire Arthur Brooks’ work so I’ll look up that youtube video you mentioned.

I love this: “It all comes down to having our own life and priorities in order! Real life!” Beautiful, messy, real life!

AI definitely does have its place, I agree. I use it for several different things, including formatting book notes that I collect from books I read. It completes a very mundane and repetitive task for me about 100 times quicker than I used to do it myself. But yes, it is very annoying when it’s passed off as “personal” writing, when we know it’s not. It will be interesting to see what comes next from it.

Authentic and messy – those traits are becoming more and more valuable. I’ll take that any day over “perfect” inauthentic writing! I like knowing the people behind the words, not the machines they’re using. Thankful for you being you, Martha. ❤️