Smorgasbord Posts from Your Archives 2020 – #AI – Can We Be Replaced? by Jan Sikes

Welcome to the current series of Posts from Your Archives in 2020 and if you would like to participate with two of your posts from 2019, you will find all the details in this post: New series of Posts from Your Archives 2020

This is the second post by award winning author Jan Sikes and in it she explores the possibility that one day we might find ourselves replaced by artificial intelligence.

Can we be replaced by Jan Sikes

I ran across an article recently that gave me pause, and I want to share with you a few of the facts and points it made.

There has been a lot of talk lately about the increased use of Artificial Intelligence, not only in manufacturing and logistics but also in news reporting. But what is the possibility of creative writers being replaced by Artificial Intelligence?

It seems far-fetched, but in Japan, a novel was written by an AI writer, and it passed the first round of screening for the Hoshi Shinichi Literary Award in 2016. Impressive, indeed. Undoubtedly, it is a solid proof of what AI writers are capable of.

But can they ever replace the real and spontaneous human emotions? I think the quick answer to that is “No!” However, I can see where AI can be extremely helpful in aiding writers. Apps like Grammarly and  Pro Writing Aid are basically programmed bots that can detect grammatical errors, typos, overused words and misused words. Some of these tools can even spot missing words. But, at the end of the day, they can only do what they are programmed to do. AI cannot dream nor imagine. They can gather and compile data.

I use a lot of southern dialect and slang words when I write, especially dialogue. And none of these writing aids can distinguish these words. They only see them as misspelled or incorrectly used words. So, from that standpoint, I don’t think AI can ever truly replace human writers. Of course, I suppose they could always be programmed to recognize slang from different locals, but it’s not likely.

Nevertheless, it is food for thought. Imagine that we had a bot that we could tell our stories to and they could then put in totally proper and correct form? Well, that might be helpful.

In conclusion, this article stated that while AI can never replace human emotion-driven writing, it can be a helpful tool to make us better writers. Okay. I guess I can go for that.

I use both Grammarly and ProWritingAid on a regular basis and they are both helpful in correcting punctuation and finding typos. But, they can’t find everything. So, for now, we humans are still needed to craft creative and entertaining stories!

What’s your take on AI? We would love to find out in the comments.

©Jan Sikes 2019

About Jan Sikes

Multi-Award winning author, Jan Sikes, began her writing career as a young girl. Her first work was a gospel song. She had an uncle whom she loved dearly, but he was an alcoholic and his drinking caused such family discord that at times, resulted in him being banished from their home. So, she wrote a song about Uncle Luke finding Jesus. That is her first memory of feeling the passion deep down to her toes for writing and for music.

When her husband passed away in 2009, she thought someone would come along and write the story of his unique and inspiring life. She awoke one morning to realize she was the only one who could write it, since she was the only one there with him through it all. So, she took several Creative Writing courses at local community colleges and went to work.

Her books are true stories about the journey of two people moving through adversity in order to grow and learn to become better humans. She believes with all her heart there is something worthy of sharing in these stories. Bits and pieces of wisdom, hard-learned lessons and above and beyond all, love…True love that you read about in fiction stories and yet this is truth. The old saying that truth is stranger than fiction fits these stories.

She also releases a music CD of original songs along with each book that fits the time period of the story. Why? Because the stories revolve and evolve around a passion for music.

Jan has also developed several writing workshops that you can get more information about on her website.

She is widowed, lives in North Texas, volunteers at music festivals, has five incredible grandchildren and serves on the Board of Directors for the Texas Authors Institute of History, The North Texas Book Festival and the Texas Musicians Museum.

A selection of  books by Jan Sikes

One of the recent reviews for Jewel

BookLover1013 4.0 out of 5 stars Jewel Brightly Shines January 7, 2020

This story parallels one of my favorite tunes — an entertaining variation. Born poor white trash, Jewel is scared, and her momma’s sick. They don’t have money for food or rent, but Jewel and her sister are handed over to others who will change their lives: Jewel’s in a far different way than her sister’s. Confused, Jewel must trust her mother to do what’s right to save them. How sad to leave what you know, even if lacking comfort and necessities, for an uncertain future. A great short read with a consistent tempo, I finished it in one sitting and enjoyed it thoroughly.

Read all the reviews and buy the books: Amazon US

And Amazon UK: Amazon UK

And find more reviews and follow Jan: Goodreads

Connect to Jan

Website: Jan Sikes
Blog: Jan Sikes WordPress
Facebook: Author Jan Sikes
Twitter: @rijanjks

My thanks to Jan for giving us something to think about… and please let us know your thoughts on AI… thanks Sally.