10,000 hours. That’s how long it takes, at least according to author Malcolm Gladwell, to master a craft. Or, if you’re an AI, a matter of months, weeks, or days.
When I read that ChatGPT is now such a skilled writer that he’s already written hundreds of books on Amazon’s self-publishing service, I experienced a mini panic. To be clear, OpenAI’s groundbreaking chatbot isn’t releasing these tomes on its own. People work with ChatGPT to develop themes, stories, and chapters for their books.
My immediate reaction was, “I’m doomed.” But as the freezing cold of this cold reality faded, I thought of something else. Anyone can write and publish a book, and most of them won’t be very good.
Why should we assume that ChatGPT, which learns a lot from writing online, can write at Stephen King’s level, or even mine?
In addition to writing for tech publications for over 30 years, I’ve dabbled in fiction – primarily children’s books that I’ve written, illustrated, and published on the Kindle self-publishing platform KDP.
So what took me decades to achieve, ChatGPT did it in months.
I will not lie; I was a little depressed. This flood of AI content will likely overwhelm the human product on the same platform. It also destroys the notion of talent, as in something you might need to write a book, get it published, and get noticed. I fully expect a book written by ChatGPT on The New York Times List of bestsellers by the end of the year.
Maybe.
Scenario by ChatGPT
What came to mind, as I reveled in the realization that I might never produce anything good enough to sell more than one copy to my mother, was that I had make an assumption.
Who said ChatGPT writing is good?
In most of my interactions with the OpenAI platform, I have found ChatGPT to be informative, smart, polite, funny, and sometimes quirky. But I never marveled at his writing.
To test my theory, I decided to ask ChatGPT to help me write a movie script. I gave him a very short synopsis, a few characters, and even a bit of a cast, but otherwise let him write as he sees fit.
A screenplay requires structure, but also, when it comes to dialogue, a real way with words. It also pushes the envelope on plot. Could ChatGPT reach the level of a must-have script?
My instructions were for a new star trek franchise film starring both Captain Picard and Captain Kirk (each played by their original actors, Patrick Stewart and William Shatner, respectively). The plot would revolve around them traveling through time to meet, then delivering dilithium crystals (opens in a new tab) until 2023 to be used as a new global energy source. This would trigger a climate change reversal (in a twist, their actions would enable the creation of the Federation, meaning they’re not changing the timeline, just strengthening it, but I digress). I left all other casting, plot and action decisions to ChatGPT.
I have to say that ChatGPT fully understands how to write a script with most of the necessary, albeit skeletal, screen directions. He also did a passable retort of Kirk and Picard’s jokes (last seen in the first Star Trek: Generations (opens in a new tab)). Here’s a little taste:
KIRK: What’s going on here, Picard?
PICARD: I’m not sure, Kirk. We are investigating a space anomaly when you suddenly appeared.
KIRK: Anomaly? That’s one way to describe it.
This computer has read all the blogs
The other thing that became clear is that ChatGPT had already absorbed all of the Trek lore from the original series and Star Trek: The Next Generation (opens in a new tab). Its script quickly used familiar tropes and characters, including the all-knowing Q (played by John de Lancie (opens in a new tab)) that sets in motion the quest to save the earth.
He dumped Emma Stone (opens in a new tab) as a scientist and later added Idris Elba (opens in a new tab).
The problem with the first draft was that it was so short that it lacked a proper second and third act. It seemed to jump from premise to conclusion like it was a race to get to the end credits.
This was my first indication that writing with ChatGPT is not a case of telling the AI bot what you want and then letting it write the whole thing. Our first script looked like the rough draft you might get from a freshman film student.
I asked ChatGPT to expand the script, add more characters from one of the two original series, and throw up a roadblock in the form of terrorists trying to steal the dilithium crystals before Kirk and Picard cannot complete their mission.
First, ChatGPT seemed to lose interest and delivered half of the script. When asked, he apologized and spat out the rest. This time, the two captains fail. What type of star trek the movie is it? I thought.
I had ChatGPT rewrite with the twist of Q taking the captains out of time so they could get back to 5 minutes before the terrorists blew up half the crystals and prevented them from completing their mission.
Breathless
At this point, ChatGPT seemed to forget that he was writing a movie script and just delivered paragraphs of text without dialogue describing the action. He felt rushed, and like ChatGPT was bored with this exercise and just wanted it done.
Although I do not wish to publish the script in its entirety for fear of unintentional copyright infringement, here is a snippet of the hasty conclusion:
Together, Kirk, Picard, character Emma Stone, and Starfleet officers work to install dilithium crystals in power plants around the world, with the ultimate goal of ending the world’s reliance on fossil fuels and avoiding the catastrophic events that would have led to Earth’s demise.
While working, Kirk and Picard find themselves in a strange new world, a world where they are surrounded by strange technology and unfamiliar customs. They must navigate 21st century New York City, blend in with the locals, and adapt to a world very different from the one they know.
In the end, I didn’t end up with a usable script, which was a relief.
It’s not just that ChatGPT isn’t much of a writer, it also lacks the energy and determination to create content at scale. ChatGPT has no burning ambition to be an author – he has no ambition at all. Someone who wants to write a novel or a screenplay can’t just run out of steam. Even as a collaborator, ChatGPT is lacking. His prose and his ideas devoted to quality and maturity. I could feel he was out of ideas, which is why he kept trying to wrap the story up early.
This is not the profile of a future great author.
I have a feeling that whatever ChatGPT helps people post is mostly, well, garbage, and human authors and writers are safe – for now.
