AI and the written word

I recently completed a training that equips media professionals with practical artificial intelligence (AI) skills to enhance efficiency, boost productivity and support the adoption of technology for a future-ready workforce.

- NEHA KIRPAL

Reading author and educator Manjima Misra’s latest book exploring the intersection of AI with narratology, creative writing, feminism and law reiterated some of these learnings. Focusing on the importance of storytelling, the book offers a balanced assessment of both Al's capacities and limitations.

At the very outset, Ms Misra emphasises the uniqueness of the human voice in creative writing, taking examples of extracts from timeless classics to make her point. In the chapter on human-Al collaboration, she discusses several ways in which Al is useful, including brainstorming plots, refining drafts, accelerating workflows, offering novel prompts, creating dialogues and making research more efficient. For instance, Al tools such as ChatGPT can be used to name characters based on genres and personalities as well as name and describe places and settings in novels. Ms Misra adds that since linguistic production differs across Al tools, it would benefit writers to synthesise their best aspects instead of restricting oneself to a specific Al tool for collaborative writing.

Another interesting human-Al collaboration could be in the sphere of human educators collaborating with Al tools to develop learners’ writing skills.