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Two ways fiction writers can use AI ethically

March 5, 2024 / 28 Comments

I’m going to do something I rarely do–make a prediction. I predict that AI is going to revolutionize our lives on a level nearly comparable to the internet and smartphones. And I’m going to go even further and predict this revolution will be (mostly) a good thing. Trust me, I hate the idea of AI-generated fiction and art as much as the next creative, and I don’t believe AI will replace writers and artists (though I do think plenty of AI-generated crap will get made and sold by unethical people). I do think writers (and maybe artists too) can find ethical ways to use AI to help them work more efficiently, and in this post I’ll give you a brief look at two ways fiction writers can use AI ethically.

But first: this post is part of the Insecure Writers Support Group (IWSG) blog hop. On the first Wednesday of every month, we IWSG-ers share our doubts, fears, struggles, and triumphs. Our awesome co-hosts this month are Kristina Kelly, Miffie Seideman, Jean Davis, and Liza @ Middle Passages. Each month our Fearless Leader (Ninja Captain Alex J. Cavanaugh) gives us an optional question to answer. This month’s question: Have you “played” with AI to write those nasty synopses, or do you refuse to go that route? How do you feel about AI’s impact on creative writing?

When I first saw this question, I got all excited and planned to write a well-thought-out post with lots of examples of how authors can use generative AI ethically. Then I got sick. And spent a night in the ED. And am still not feeling great. So consider this post a teaser. When I’m back to my fully-functional and annoying self, I’ll put together something more professional.

Anyway, back to AI.

Ethical uses of AI for fiction writers

I found a meme (because of course I did) that sums up my take on how authors and others can use AI:

You can decide whether my examples below constitute “tedious shit.”

Use AI for research

When I do research, I often go down multiple internet rabbit holes and spend an hour researching some small detail that will inform part of one sentence. Instead of wasting all that time, I can start by querying a generative AI tool. Here’s an example:

I asked Microsoft Copilot: How would an estate lawyer search for a missing heir?

Here’s the response:

When an estate lawyer needs to locate a missing heir, they follow a diligent process to fulfill their legal obligations. Here are the steps they typically take:

  1. Initial Identification:
    • At the beginning of the probate process, the executor (or estate lawyer) identifies all beneficiaries and heirs.
    • This step ensures that everyone is notified about the probate proceedings.
  2. Due Diligence:
    • If an heir or beneficiary is missing, the executor must act with due diligence to locate and contact them.
    • Reasonable steps include:
      • Publishing a Notice: The executor may publish a notice in a local newspaper for a specified period.
      • Contacting Known Relatives and Friends: Reaching out to other relatives, friends, or partners who might have information.
      • Searching Last Known Addresses: Investigating where the missing heir last lived.
      • Checking Property Records: Examining property ownership records.
      • Contacting Past Employers: Inquiring about the heir’s employment history.
      • Online Searches: Using search engines and social media platforms.
      • Hiring a Private Investigator: Seeking professional assistance.
  3. Court Discretion:
    • State laws define what constitutes reasonable efforts to locate a missing heir.
    • The court may decide whether the executor has fulfilled their obligation.
    • The executor might need court permission to spend estate funds on locating the missing beneficiary.
  4. Proceeding Without the Heir:
    • If the executor has made a good-faith effort to locate the heir, the probate process can proceed without them.
    • The executor files a sworn statement detailing their attempts.
    • If the heir remains missing, the executor may need to petition the court to continue or close the case without them.
  5. Will Provisions:
    • If there’s a will, it may specify how a gift should be handled if a beneficiary remains missing.
    • In the absence of a will provision, state law determines how the probate case proceeds with a missing beneficiary or heir.

Remember, estate lawyers prioritize due diligence and transparency to ensure fair distribution of assets even when heirs are missing. 📜🔍123.

Could I have found that information via a Google search? Sure. But here I get a neat summary that gives me (and my character) a starting point. And it took less than 10 seconds.

Use AI to create images to help you visualize and/or describe

I’m not the most visual person on the planet, so I sometimes struggle to picture my characters and settings fully-formed. Enter the AI image generator.

I’m not an expert on AI image generators, so I can’t recommend one over another. I can tell you that I had pretty good luck with the one built into Canva. I prompted it to give me pictures of a 24-year-old woman with curly red hair. It took a few tries to refine the prompt, but I eventually got some results that brought my main character from Vanishing, Inc. to life.

Meet Alex Collins (several versions of her, in fact):

And here are the results from a slightly different prompt:

Learning to write a good prompt is key, and I’m very much still an amateur. But even with my miniscule skills, I was able to generate some images that helped me clarify how I want my character to look and key features I want to describe.

You could do something similar with setting by asking an AI image generator to create an image of, say, a kitchen in an 1890s cottage. Or you could use it to generate a map of a fictional place to help you keep track of the lay of the land.

I want to be very clear here. I’m using AI-generated images purely to help me visualize. I would never use AI to generate book covers or other art for public use. I’d hire a cover artist for that. But AI is great for creating images for strictly personal use.

Are there other ways authors can use AI ethically? Sure, and when I have time, I’ll dig into that topic more deeply. In the meantime, I encourage you to experiment with generative AI tools, learn about prompting, and see if you can put these tools to work to do the tedious shit in your writing life.

The memery

I’m the opposite. I’ll catalog my sock drawer to avoid writing.

I can’t wait to ask an AI tool about some method of murder. I’ll probably end up on an AI-generated watch list.

And finally:

Happy IWSG Day to all who celebrate! Find my older IWSG posts here.

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28 Comments

  • Natalie Aguirre

    March 6, 2024 at 4:07 am Reply

    I hope you feel better soon. You’ve pointed out two good ways to use Al. I use it for work to write informative articles like the estate planning article you showed us. Al has its uses.

  • Liza

    March 6, 2024 at 4:55 am Reply

    Hope you are getting better. This is a thoughtful post and you’ve demonstrated some good examples in which AI is not evil incarnate!

  • Barbara Ann Mealer

    March 6, 2024 at 8:02 am Reply

    I guess I should use AI to generate what my characters look like. I’ve avoided the AI stuff when I asked a question and the the AI went off on a rant. Talk about touchy, it was.
    Loved all the Memes. Need to know how you find them all.

    • Janet Alcorn

      March 31, 2024 at 9:52 am Reply

      Sorry for the very belated reply. It’s been a rough month. I find most of my memes in writing and meme groups on Facebook. At least I get some benefit from my social media addiction.

  • Esther O'Neill

    March 6, 2024 at 8:17 am Reply

    Sorry you’ve been in hospital, especially as an emergency.
    Thanks for all this – clear and very accessible.
    My IT department agrees – and as a day job, he teaches computers. Own time ?
    AI powered LIDAR, for archaeology.

  • Jacqui Murray

    March 6, 2024 at 9:15 am Reply

    Fun post, Janet. I do agree about the change, and it will be good because we have no choice. I worry about stuff like Gemini. Its mistakes were more than ‘hallucinations’!

  • joylenebutler

    March 6, 2024 at 9:22 am Reply

    I hope you’re right about AI. It makes me nervous, but I also understand that we’re living in different times and I need to catch up. Love Alex’s red hair!

  • Nortina S.

    March 6, 2024 at 11:52 am Reply

    Great post, Janet! I think the internet is overrun with examples of people using AI badly. If we had more examples of the “right” or more ethical ways we can use AI, I think more people would be open to the idea, or at the very least, would not be so quick to demonize it.

    • Janet Alcorn

      March 31, 2024 at 9:55 am Reply

      100% agree. We’re in that weird time with a new technology when people are still figuring it out and misapplying it in all kinds of awful ways. But there’s also some really interesting and useful work being done with AI. Hopefully the benefits will outweigh the drawbacks.

  • Loni Townsend

    March 6, 2024 at 2:57 pm Reply

    Yeesh! Get better soon!

    I love your memes, as always. AI is helpful, but I could never get the image prompts to match my visions. I think me doing my own art has made me picky.

    • Janet Alcorn

      March 31, 2024 at 9:56 am Reply

      Yeah, if you’re able to do your own art, I can see how AI would never measure up. I have all the artistic ability of a mud brick, so AI is (usually) a help for me.

  • Susanne

    March 7, 2024 at 5:35 am Reply

    I couldn’t agree more about AI doing the tedious work! It seems a lot of people don’t understand how to use AI… when it could be used to our advantage, as a work tool.
    I’ve been playing with the AI tool to generate vectors in Adobe Illustrator. I’m thinking it can create a base that I can modify, since I’m not a brilliant illustrator. So far the results have been excruciatingly bad but I like the idea for me as a tool to use in my design work, they just need to develop it a bit further.
    In writing I can imagine it’s the same thing – it needs to be developed further and people need to understand how to use it, as a base to work from. I tried Chat GPT to help me create product descriptions for my shop and had some good laughs! Chat GPT is such a drama queen! But it gave me some ideas and I modified the descriptions and I’m actually using them but absolutely not unedited.

    I hope you feel better now!

    • Janet Alcorn

      March 31, 2024 at 9:58 am Reply

      I appreciate your insightful comment. And you’re right – people need to learn how to use it, and it needs to develop further too. We’re in a phase of AI that reminds me a lot of the early days of the internet, when everything “online” was deemed suspect. I mean, plenty of it *is* suspect, but there’s also a wealth of useful info and tools. I think the same is/will be true of AI.

  • Elizabeth Seckman

    March 15, 2024 at 6:18 am Reply

    I never thought to use it for research. That would be helpful. I did use AI to generate a photo of my main character in my historical novel because I could never find a stock image that matched what I have in my head. It did a great job, but now it makes me even more disgruntled with my efforts to find such an image in stock photos.

    • Janet Alcorn

      March 31, 2024 at 9:59 am Reply

      I had trouble finding useful stock photos to match my characters too, so AI is helpful. It’s still hard to find something that matches the images in our heads, though, isn’t it?

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