KATIE MARIE

I’ve not been a fan of NaNoWriMo for a while.

In my opinion, it’s not a concept that produces good writing. But simultaneously, I understand that some people need that kind of motivator. I do agree that you can’t edit a blank page, so if it helps people get words on that page, then go for it.

However, their latest statement around AI is eye-rolling levels of bad.

Rather than rant, I will focus on one issue, that being that they call it AI and talk about how condemning it outright is terrible. This lacks much-needed nuance.

In my opinion, generative AI should not be used by writers. Asking a writer to write isn’t classist or ableist. If you use generative AI to write your story for you, you’ve not written it, and thus, you are not a writer; it feels obvious.

As someone with ADHD, ASD, and Dyslexia, I use spelling and grammar checkers and have since I was at school, using one of those little handheld gizmos. I also use text-to-speech to listen to my writing and see if I’ve missed any errors or suddenly lost the ability to “wurd”.

These tools are technically considered AI, as they use algorithms to tell me I’ve misspelt something. They do not do my writing for me. They are not creative or generative; they just tell me when I messed up a word.

So yeah, I’m pissed that NaNoWriMo lumps all AI together under the guise of standing up for disadvantaged writers. As a disadvantaged writer I can tell the difference between a tool that helps you and a device that does it for you.