Normally, when a writer gets the news that his or her book has been picked up by someone, you're overjoyed. Writers — and I feel I can speak in generality, since I've been one for the better part of six decades — are notoriously eager for praise. "What? Someone liked my book, my article, my dissertation, my phone message?"
But this book news that came from my son a few days ago was disconcerting. "Hey, dad, AI is using your books for large learning models." My response was one that many people my age would offer: "What the hell does that mean?" I'm one of those people who's been paying not nearly enough attention to the coming of artificial intelligence, even though writing is one of the areas most affected by this new world.
After Jamie explained and I did some research, I found out that AI companies are using my books as the raw material to supply AI-generated answers to questions. If you happen to ask the internet, "Hey, who was on the Dream Team in 1992," the answer you'll be receiving might have been supplied by a Jack McCallum book.
Now, being chosen for AI modeling is not a giant feather in a writer's cap. There's about, oh, 180,000 other books that are being used as models. And obviously there are myriad issues raised by the spectre of AI, beginning with, selfishly, "should I be paid?" Well, of course I should be paid! Companies that use AI are making enormous profits off the work that has already been done by writers. There are class action lawsuits in the works, and I'm sure it will all be resolved five years after I'm dead and gone.
That aside, the sophistication and speed of AI, as well as its propensity to mix in a batch of mistakes, have made me sit up and pay attention. Now, might you being used for AI modeling? You can find out. Go onto the Atlantic Magazine AI Author Search and put in your name. There, I found that several of my books are listed as being used, along with three books I did not write, including one called Combined Stereotaxy and Neuroendoscopy in Placement of Cranial Shunt Catheters.
Then, I fed into the AI chat box the following: write a nonfiction essay on the Dream Team, using citations from Jack McCallum of Sports Illustrated. And in less than 30 seconds, it returned a 1,000 word essay that any high school student — nay, any college student — would have been proud to steal. The essay included sentences that Jack McCallum would've written, but more disturbingly, it included a couple quotes attributed to me that I didn't write. One of the sentences in question was a conclusion to the essay. It read, "'The Dream Team,' McCallum concludes, 'was not just about basketball. It was about America, about the world, about what happens when talent, timing and history all converge.'" It's not a horrible sentence, but it's clunky, and not one I would've written.
But there are more serious issues about AI than one writer being upset about being misquoted. And it's not all bad. A recent article in the Morning Call detailed how AI is being used by an area school district to help with student learning. My too-late entry into the world of AI is just the beginning of my examination of the topic, and I'd like to hear how some of you have been affected. Email me at info@wdiy.org, and tell me some of your experiences, positive and negative, with AI.
You're never too old to learn, and if there's time, I'll tell you all I know about shunt catheters.
