A Vanishing of Authors, a guest post by S. A. Patrick

A story recently caught my eye on the BBC News website, titled “Are romance authors at risk from book-writing chatbots?”

The article mused: “Is rapidly-advancing technology about to threaten the livelihoods of romantic fiction authors?”

The snobbery here is revealing. Romantic fiction is commonly dismissed as trash – fiction that, y’know, anyone could write. (YA and Middle Grade is often similarly dismissed, albeit without the intense disdain heaped on Romance.)

The article doesn’t even consider the possibility that – God forbid! – ‘proper’ fiction might be in peril. Clearly no AI could ever write anything good, yes?

Well, I suspect this will rapidly become a minority opinion. The most recent advances in AI have made clear what the future holds: it is inevitable that AI will replace human authors.

As an author myself, I’m terrified – the career I’ve worked so hard on, wiped out by machines. A way of life and income, all gone.

It could be a gradual thing, but I suspect it will happen much sooner than we think. Past experience suggests that it will also be sudden. AIs will be able to instantly turn out works that are better – by whatever metric you like – than anything ever written by humans.

But what path will lead us there, and how long might it take?

Tools to check spelling and grammar are already familiar, but AI will soon provide ever more sophisticated suggestions for style, lyricism, alternative wordings, edits for pace or clarity. Then, narrative consistency, character, theme, entire plot arcs…

Within five years, most books will use AI tools extensively in their production. As those tools get more powerful and reliable, books will essentially become joint efforts between human and AI.

But don’t be in any doubt. The balance will shift until, as with the games of Chess and Go, no human author could even come close to what an AI can do. This will happen within thirty years, at the most. Or it could happen within ten.

The prospect raises too many questions to address here. Will there still be a role for gatekeepers like publishers and librarians? What becomes of the social aspect – the shared experience of a book – when incredible novels can be created ad hoc for individual readers to suit their taste, their mood, their needs? Will we think less of a book, if we are the only ones to ever read it?

The author part of me is, as I said, terrified. But authors are readers, too, and I have a confession to make: I’m also excited. When I find a book I love, I devour it – I inhabit its world, lost in the pages for all too brief a time. It’s my favorite state of being, yet it’s rare to be so completely engrossed.

Now imagine that every book you read – every single one! – sweeps you off into that precious state. Would that be a future you could embrace? I certainly could.

As for the human element being lost… Well, don’t be so quick to despair.

Writers know, better than anyone, that a book is ultimately a collaboration between author and reader. In a sense, books are just templates, waiting to be turned into the experience of reading.

Whatever an AI creates, the human experience of reading will still be the final destination – the entire point of it, the arbiter of its success. The human element will remain, because readers are everything.

And the future for readers is glorious.

Meet the author

S.A. Patrick is the author of seven novels. His new book, A Vanishing of Griffins, will be published on May 2nd. The sequel to A Darkening of Dragons, it is part two of the Songs of Magic series – magical adventures inspired by the legend of the Pied Piper of Hamelyn. He hopes you’ll enjoy it immensely, even though he’s only human.

About A Vanishing of Griffins

The epic, middle grade fantasy continues in Book Two of the Songs of Magic trilogy!

Having upset the Hamelyn Piper’s dastardly plan to build an army through songs of mind control, 13-year-old Piper, Patch Brightwater, must foil the escaped villain’s next sinister plot: assembling a suit of immortal armor. Accompanied by Wren, a girl cursed to live as a rat, and Barver, a fire-breathing dracogriff, Patch seeks the aid of old friends, legendary heroes, and a near-dead sorcerer.

Embark on another adventure with the motley trio as they clash with pirates of the Eastern Seas, uncover secrets of the griffins, and dabble with magic to undo past wrongs and forge their own offense before it’s too late.

S. A. Patrick’s Songs of Magic trilogy is a brilliant retelling of one of the darkest legends of all time, “The Piper of Hamelyn.” Combining folklore with the very best of modern storytelling, the books will delight young fantasy fans who are hungry for perilous quests, friendships forged on the road, and an inventive magic system that thrills the imagination.

ISBN-13: 9781682633885
Publisher: Peachtree
Publication date: 05/02/2023
Age Range: 8 – 12 Years

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