Good afterevenmorn, Readers!

This post is going to be a little “old lady yells at clouds” today, so prepare!

With the news that Anthropic, the AI company behind Claude Chaptbot, was sued and settled for their large-scale theft of books in order to train its AI model, I have been reading a glut of articles both for and against the use of AI, specifically to write fiction novels. Naturally, not being AI (I swear!), I’m firmly against. The theft of creative works to train these programs, and the environmental damage required to get the up and keep them running aside (and those two reasons alone are strong enough, I feel, to abandon AI) I don’t think AI belongs in creative fields; some aids, perhaps, some tools, yes. But I don’t think creating AI that can “write” a novel is in any way valuable.

I do think that those who are using AI this way aren’t really writers. They don’t care one iota for the craft. They are simply out to see if they can make a quick buck at the expense of the artists who came before, the artists who may follow, and the environment. They don’t want to be writers. They want to have written.

But the finished product, the book, isn’t the only thing about writing that is worthy. Few writers write because they think it’ll make them money or make them famous. Those that do quickly learn, and either adjust their expectations, or abandon the craft. While I think it absolutely should make writers money — enough to live off at least — most writers I know write because there is a story inside their heads that needs to be let out.

In my case, the stories are very loud, very persistent, and make it incredibly difficult to concentrate on literally anything else. I’ve had a stern sit down with my stories about interrupting me during my work day. It has not helped one bit.

And, though it takes discipline to sit down and write, the act of writing is itself wonderful. I love the putting down of words, the way a story or character will reveal themselves to me, how strange it is that things I’ve noticed or read about in the real world will make an appearance in the fictional world I’m currently creating/writing about. I adore how I can read an article on archaeology or see a sketch of a burial site (which is what happened with the story I am currently sitting down to write), and suddenly my mind is flooded with images and sketchy pieces of story that will grow, and coalesce, and solidify long before I sit down to write.

I might grumble about sitting down in front of the computer to write something down, but once I’m there, writing is the best feeling. Even when I’m struggling and the words just aren’t coming, it’s a struggle I appreciate. Let’s face it, writing can be a slog sometimes. Like all things we love, it isn’t always a magical experience.

Boy is it worth it, though. To have had those days of struggle. To have had the days of ease. To have written, and deleted, and changed things around. It’s work, to be sure. I don’t mean to make it sound like it’s not difficult. Some days it’s incredibly difficult. Even well-practiced writers struggle a lot of the time. The work, however, is worth it.

I think that this is what no AI prompt creator fully understands. The finished product, the book or piece of art, is not the point. It’s the act of creation that is the point. It’s getting lost in the process. It’s the way characters can surprise you. Or how the world fades away when you’ve found your flow. It’s in triumphing over a scene or a slump that is creating difficulties.

It’s, if you’ll excuse my being terribly cliche, the journey that is the thing worth pursuing.

AI robs people of that. They put in a prompt and walk away. Ta-dah. Book. And what for? Writing is hard, but getting discovered is harder.

And what is that book, then? Where is the satisfaction in having completed it? I know that I am so happy to have a complete book because of all the time and effort I spent getting it there. Because I have lived with the characters for months, perhaps years, and I love them. Here is a thing that all my private work has achieved, that I can then share with the world.

I suppose rejections or bad reviews will hurt less if there is less of one’s own self poured into it.

The book, or the piece of art, is the product, but it’s not the point. The act of creation is the entire point. Everything I’ve read about AI prompt writers is that they want the credit for creating without actually performing the work of creation. They don’t want to be writers, or they would be sitting down to write. They don’t want to be artists, or they would be sitting down to make art. Those things that they’re using AI to avoid doing are the entire reason for creating.

The excuse of democratising art holds no water. Art already has a low barrier of entry. A pen and paper is all you need. Or string. Or anything, really. That’s the beauty of creativity. You just have to put in the hours of practice, and be prepared for failure. Success is never assured, nor is it something a person is entitled to. Plenty of wonderful writers and artists don’t do well commercially. But we continue to create, because it is the urge to create that drives us.

The urge to create is incredibly human. I think the part of the problem is the strange modern expectation that our creations be perfect right from the jump. Practice is not something we’re conditioned to do anymore. Or we must turn all our creative acts into a “side-hustle.” No one really has creative hobbies anymore; they must be monetized.

I confess that I would very much like to monetize my writing. I want that to be my full time job; to make enough money off my stories alone that I can afford to eat and have a roof over my head. But though I’ve been at it for a very long time, I have not achieved that. Yet I still write. I draw and paint, too, because it’s a creative release. That is even more fun than writing, because I have no expectations for my paintings (probably a good thing. I’m not that good). That’s my hobby.

Some of us have lost sight of the value of the act of creation, mistaking the end product as the reason for creation. Certainly, having something to show for all that work is satisfying as hell.

I don’t see how having something without putting in the work could possibly be as satisfying.

Perhaps when AI is no longer new and flashy, and the prompt writers realize how little money or fame most writers (and other artists) actually get for all their work, they’ll leave the creative fields alone to chase the next shiny thing. Or maybe there’ll be so much AI slop out there that training the next generation of generative AI will become an impossible feedback loop of enshittification, and they’ll leave the creative fields alone.

AI has its uses. I am excited about what it could do for medical applications, for example. But it doesn’t belong in the creative fields. AI prompters are not writers, even if they have a book at the end.

---

When S.M. Carrière isn’t brutally killing your favorite characters, she spends her time teaching martial arts, live streaming video games, and sometimes painting. In other words, she spends her time teaching others to kill, streaming her digital kills, and sometimes relaxing. Her most recent titles include Daughters of Britain, Skylark and Human. Her next novel The Lioness of Shara Mountain releases early 2026.