The Photographic Rendering of Words: How Writing Will Evolve in the Age of AI
In a world increasingly inundated by AI-generated prose, how will humanity’s writing style evolve? The more I think about it, the more I find myself pondering the parallels between LLMs (large language models) and photography.
Photography as the GPT Moment for Visual Art
Cameras were once a disruptive force in visual art. Painters who painstakingly draw layer upon layer were up against a device which could render high-fidelity scenes in the blink of an eye.
Yet painting and visual art did not become obsolete. Instead, it adapted by shifting its gaze to the intangible.
Painters discovered a human touch that could never be replicated by a camera. Realism gave way to the ethereal beauty of Impressionism and Post-Impressionism, styles that captured the essence of a moment rather than replicating its every detail.
The Post-Impressionist Equivalent for Writing?
In a world where AI effortlessly weaves words into stories and posts, I foresee a similar transformation unfolding in writing.
Prompting is a bit like taking a photograph — we no longer have to laboriously render each word, or sentence, or paragraph.
We just have to know where to focus and to frame. We hit snap, and the AI does all the rendering for us.
In an era where anyone can generate perfect prose in an instant, we may find ourselves going the other direction and embracing the incomplete, imperfect, and unexpected.
How writing will evolve is anyone’s guess, but the rigid structures that once defined the written word will likely give way to a more fluid, conversational style — a written Impressionism that distinguishes the human hand from the algorithmic prowess of generative AI.
Our sentences may become less polished and more expressive, reflecting the unique cadence and idiosyncrasies of the human mind. Transitions may flow more haphazardly from one idea to another, guided only by the whims of human emotion.
Grammatical errors may even become badges of honor that proudly declare, “Yes, this was written by a human!”
Painters of Words
Just like we have an order of magnitude more photos than paintings, we should also expect to have way more AI-generated text than human text over the coming decades. It’s just way too easy.
But there will always be space for the warm rawness of human writing amidst the cold precision of AI writing.
Humans will always be naturally drawn to other humans. Deep Blue beat chess champion Kasparov 30 years ago, yet we are still watching humans play chess.
The world will continue to yearn for the writers who are painters of words, who tirelessly dab at the canvas to capture the essence of the moment - with all the glorious messiness of the human spirit.
