We are all hearing about the power of GPT to write books, marketing copy, character summaries, etc. But if you listen to those making the claim you will hear .. a breathless message of astonishment … an admonition that authors better hurry to use it … the threat that many authors will be put out of business … etc.

We have heard all of this before about every emerging technology, and especially AI since the 1950’s. But I have used ChatGPT for a number of writing problems and it is severely weak at them.

For example, I recently asked ChatGPT to write a description of an economically challenged neighborhood in Boston. The result was a glowing report about how wonderful and diverse the area is. It could have been written by the Chamber of Commerce. It was not at all reflective of the reality of that area. When I asked for something more “gritty”, it returned 80% the same material. The new text made grudging and vague reference to the economic challenges. So it gave me a few nuggets, but the description was unusable in a novel.

So we will all keep writing until something as advanced as Adam Two comes along. I hope you already know who Adam Two is.