From Scratch with a Store-Bought Mix

There is little doubt it can be done; that’s not the question. What needs asking is why in the world would anyone want to do it.

That sums up my reaction to a recent Substack post by celebrated novelist Jackie Mitchard commenting on Stephen Marche’s use of artificial intelligence to write a whodunit titled Death of an Author.

Mitchard describes how Marche “had to force the bot to write the book he wanted, sentence by sentence. Which sounds to me an awful lot like writing a book the usual way.” Sounds to me more like editing than writing. Editing is tedious, writing is creative, editing is a chore, writing is an adventure.

She went on to say “to my shame, I had never tried to use AI for anything. At the behest of my agent, I tried using ChatGPT to brainstorm book ideas.” And liked it. That got me feeling sorry for her. The thought of churning out the next bestseller the way a child can make a batch of pink sugar cookies with rainbow sprinkles in an Easy-Bake Oven gives me the creeps. Writ…