Just because you can do something does not mean you should

A writer's apocalypse quickly approaches. The LLMs might not be good enough right now, but given enough time and money, they would get good enough. They might one day be the best writers on the planet. It does not matter how long that takes. Eventually they will get there.

See, as examples, The Stochastic Parrot Sings Back - Hugh Howey and The Prismatic Mind - Hugh Howey mentioned in NL49. The LLMs can write some wonderful poetry right now! There are of course many others using AI to unleash slop upon the world.

And that's my point. The decision to use LLMs to write and publish stuff will be made by humans. Just because LLMs are good enough to write things, does not mean they should be allowed to, or need to.

I was listening to David Perell and Mike Dean talk about it on How I write. Mike says toward the end, that even if AIs get better than almost any other writer on the planet, he would still continue to write. I feel the same way.

Writing allows me to think. And whether an LLM can write better or not is not the point. It provides value to me. There may or may not be other people reading what I write, but that is almost incidental. I am doing this, first, for me.

The march of technology is relentless and irreversible. The decision to use the newer technology lies with us. And as I type this, I know how this will work. How this is working right now, with news publications letting actual writers go and letting AI generate articles.

That is also my point. There is a decision the business owners make. And then, a decision we as consumers make. If, we are given that information, would we read what the AIs write. Some things, maybe. Other things, maybe not. Like, analog watches and digital watches, like ebooks and paper books, there is space for both these things to co-exist. And for us to decide, whether AI slop should be unleased upon the world.