I have to admit, even with all its promising improvements for the future, the idea of AI still sends chills down my spine. I mean how many books, short stories, television series, and movies are there about the demise of the human race due to the enhancement of Artificial Intelligence and computer/internet technology? Remember just about every episode of Black Mirror? How about Alex Garlan’s Ex Machina? Or I, Robot by Isaac Asimov?

Right now, I’m more concerned about AI (very near) future with the writing and publishing industry.

Accelerating advancements in AI have already caused a massive amount of turmoil in the writing industry, specifically as it relates to film and television. For nearly five months in 2023, the Writers Guild of America–representing 11,500 screenwriters–went on strike over a labor dispute, a lot of that stemming from unfair pay and writers consistently being treated as disposable. Worries over AI-written scripts added fuel to the fire of the strike with thousands of people signing an Authors Guild petition calling on AI industry leaders to fairly compensate writers.

Of course, if you’re not fully immersed in up-and-coming technology, the complex threat that AI poses to writers is kind of hard to imagine. As of right now, AI tools are still pretty mediocre. Especially with Chat Bots taking most of the light. It’s also important to note that technology evolves at a pretty alarming rate. Engadget will tell you that it's gone so far as AI experts and tech leaders demanded a six month pause on “out of control” AI experiments so that human cost and dangers can be evaluated properly, and that was over a year ago.

For better or worse, AI is set to shake up the writing and publishing industry in a big way.

Here are five things to look out for in the near future:

1.Assisted Research

Generative AI tools like ChatGPT will have a significant impact on publishing. A lot of different sources think it won’t actually replace authors, but actually make them more productive and efficient with a more streamlined content creation and research process. By automating basic writing tasks like fact-checking, grammar correction, and content organization, content creators can focus on developing their creative ideas and delivering high-quality content. Additionally, AI-powered tools assist in extensive research by collecting research groups and integrating content and even tweaking it, in order to resemble an authentic voice.

2. AI-Powered Editing

Will AI will create more jobs than it will take? Although there is no doubt that most employees will need to develop new skills in order to adapt to an AI-inclined workplace, there will be a good number of new positions created all thanks to that. An article on LinkedIn written by Divine Laoye talks about the fact that 87% of executives believe that AI will augment job roles rather than replace them. This means that AI is more likely to be used to complete the more repetitive tasks, freeing up writers to focus on creative and strategic work. Basically, AI will be added to a lot of the pre-existing roles, to create new roles. Even now, companies are already looking for writers who are skilled with AI tools to create highly relevant, and Search Engine Optimized content.

3. Streamlined content creation, distribution, and consumption

Eventually, AI is going to be able to create stories for articles, op-eds, and blogs. It’s already begun. Again, publications and editors of those publications are generating article titles with AI via Search Engine Optimization and sending those titles to writer; having them write an article from that title. If you don’t already know, Search Engine Optimization, or SEO is the process used to hone a website’s word, content relevance to link popularity so its pages will pop up when those words/that content is searched. Miguel Llorca, of the Torrent group surmises that while this may increase efficiency, it also poses a risk of losing original thought. At the same time, authors can utilize this trend to their advantage, with AI helping them enhance their own ideas while keeping their own voice and perspective.

4. Automated Text Analysis, formatting, and translation

This seems to be solely beneficial. AI will be able to, and it’s getting pretty close already with Google Translate and Grammarly, analyze text formatting and translations. So a lot of pretty laborious tasks could be pretty much taken care of, leaving room for authors to focus on research and content instead.

5. The Loss of Original Voice, Human Touch and Soul

This is what scares me, and a lot of fellow up and coming and more experienced writers the most. With AI impacting the Writing and Publishing Industry the way it will, it will change the way books are both written and distributed in that there could be a lot more competition for the readers attention leading to a loss of creativity and originality. As writers begin to rely more heavily on AI use due to both supply and demand, and an over-reliance on SEO, the collective effect that this new world will have on language use is frightening.

Is data going to give us these original ideas like those from the minds of Stephen King and J.K Rowling? Is data going to give us the soul behind the facts in lieu of Joan Didion and David Sheff? Are we buying into the idea that this is going to allow for more creativity, or is it becoming more and more about the business and the profit than feeding our own artistic yearns?

All that being said, it’s pertinent to remember throughout history, human beings have predicted our own destruction via numerous things; whether it be rock music, the turn of the century from 1999 to 2000, or the Internet, and the world didn’t actually end. Then again, who’s to say if the quality of life with the advancements of technology has improved for better or worse.