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Meeting your firstborn child:
I asked one of the big AI writing engines a question:
“Can you describe meeting your firstborn child?”
The AI thought for a moment, then produced 88 words:
Meeting my firstborn child was a truly magical experience. It was a moment of joy and excitement that I will never forget. When I held my newborn for the first time, I felt a wave of love and warmth that I had not experienced before. I was filled with so much joy and pride that I was now a parent. My little one looked so peaceful and content in my arms. Seeing my baby for the very first time was an unforgettable moment that I will cherish forever.
I read it, then wrote my own description (limiting myself to the same 88-word count):
“He’s so quiet,” I said, looking up at the nurse.
She smiled behind her mask. We all wore masks. Gowns, too. Gloves and hairnets, too.
“Is that okay?” I said. “Is it okay he’s not crying?”
(I thought healthy newborns cried.)
“It’s okay,” said the nurse. “He’s quiet but alert,” she said.
“Just look at him looking at you.” I looked. “He’s looking right at you.”
He was. He was looking in my eyes.
“He’s saying hello,” she smiled.
“Hello,” I said. I felt like crying. “Hello, son.”
My son, Beau.
AI can be a remarkable productivity tool.
For example, I use AI as an instrument for sourcing and organizing ideas.
AI can help writers and copywriters establish the dots to help us start writing (which is often the hardest part).
But it cannot connect the dots like we can. It can’t be personal like us, human like us. It can’t feel the gravity of a profound moment, like a birth, much less the essence of another person. These are uniquely human experiences. And so, AI cannot write like us. It can’t tell stories like us. It can’t. Because the specifics, the details, the granularities we collect through our lived experiences belong to us.
The human condition—its nuances, its vastness—belongs to us.
So, will AI replace writers?
It will not.
AI may eventually replace some writing. But it cannot replace writers, people, everything we know and feel and emote.
We are, as it were, too much to bear.
