To All Human Writers

Summary

The website content introduces a "No AI" badge for authors to signify their work is written by a human without AI assistance, emphasizing the importance of human touch in writing.

Abstract

The article titled "To All Human Writers" addresses concerns about the impact of AI text generators on the authenticity of writing. It introduces the "No AI" badge, an emblem authors can add to their stories to reassure readers of the human origin of their work. The author, Katharine Valentino, illustrates the difference between human writing and AI-generated text by comparing a personal narrative about ducks to a version rewritten by an AI, highlighting the loss of emotional depth and nuance in the latter. The article emphasizes that while AI can generate text, it lacks the ability to write with the genuine human emotion, empathy, and connection that human writers provide. Authors are encouraged to use the "No AI" badge to distinguish their work and affirm their commitment to traditional writing values.

Opinions

The author, Katharine Valentino, expresses concern about the potential negative effects of AI text generators on the craft of writing and the value of human writers.
Valentino believes that AI, despite its capabilities, cannot replicate the depth of feeling and the personal touch that human writers bring to their stories.
The article criticizes AI's tendency to alter original phrasing and emotional content, as demonstrated by Quillbot's rewrite of the duck narrative, which stripped away the warmth and affection present in the original.
The author advocates for the preservation of human writing by introducing the "No AI" badge, which serves as a declaration of a story's authentic human origin and the creative process involved in its creation.
Valentino suggests that the use of the "No AI" badge can help readers identify and appreciate stories written with humanity and genuine emotional investment.

You can add the “No AI” badge to your stories to tell readers you are more than a text-generating machine

This is the “No AI” badge, which tells your readers a human being wrote your story. A smaller badge, ready for you to copy, is available at the end of this article. Created by author Katharine Valentino

Are you concerned about ChatGPT, Copy AI, Copysmith, GrowthBar, Hypotenuse, InferKit, Jasper AI, Quillbot, Ryter, Writer and Writesonic, and the like? Are you worried about the effect that text-generating machines will have on real writing and writers? I am.

Just out of bed this morning, I was thinking, as usual, about what I might write today. I considered a story about the ducks in the pond I can see from my bedroom window.

Mama Duck had babies a month ago. Almost every morning now, she leads them, fully grown in 30 days — wow! — from the pond to the nearby stream. They’re all dabbling down there now, showing off their duckly skills. (“Dabbling.” What a lovely word.)

I feel friendly toward Mama Duck. I think she must love her babies as much as I loved mine. But I could carry my baby in my arms, feed him applesauce with a spoon, and sing him to sleep, while she can only head out to wherever her family needs to go for breakfast, hoping her little ones can keep up.

Reading this, do you feel what I feel for “my” ducks? I hope so.

Now, see if you feel the same thing when Quillbot gets hold of this story:

I was considering what I may write today. I thought of writing a narrative about the ducks I watch from my bedroom window in the pond. A month ago, Mama Duck had kids. She leads them, fully grown in 30 days — wow! — from the pond to the adjoining stream almost every morning at this point. Now they’re all playing around down there. Playing around is a lovely word.

I’m cordial with Mama Duck. She must cherish her children just as much as I did my own. She can only set off to wherever her family has to go while she can only carry her son in my arms, feed him applesauce with a spoon, and sing him to sleep.

I used no original or complex phraseology; nonetheless, Quillbot made a mess of the story, particularly in the last sentence. The AI also substituted several words:

“kids” for “babies,” which takes much of the loving feeling right out of the story

“cordial,” which according to dictionary.com means “courteous” or “gracious,” for “love,” a change that takes the rest of the loving feeling right out of love and simply cannot make you feel what I feel for my ducks.

All this is to say that an AI text generator can generate text, but only a human writer can write humanly, humanely, and with humanity.

The “No AI” badge, below, tells your readers that your story was conceived of, planned, written, edited, rewritten and edited again, and finally posted by a real writer, a human, and not a text-generating machine.

If you’d like to use the badge, copy it along with its caption and paste both into your stories.

(Note that the caption, when copied, is pasted as story text rather than as an image caption. You can then cut and paste it back into the image caption. If this doesn’t make sense, it will when you do it.)

This story was written by a human, not an AI text generator. (More Info)

Hey, I’d love it if you let me know you’re going to use the badge.