Is my Place Writing career doomed?

Being human and AI

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Over the Easter holidays I sat with my daughter, her husband, and their two teenage children, eating vegetarian chilli with long grain rice - it was delicious, garnished with coriander freshly cut from the garden. My son-in-law has a Substack, called Documentally - this was his chosen alternative name back in the day, when Twit-X was new and blue, and exciting - and in those days I knew nothing of AI or chatbots. We had gathered over the Easter holidays to celebrate birthdays (one just gone and one to come in the next few days) and the conversation moved to artificial intelligence and how it might/could totally ruin the careers of writers.

Having just achieved my PhD in Creative Writing (I’ll write about the viva in another post), we were talking about Place Writing and what it is and how it’s different from nature writing, and how creative non-fiction is different from poetry, and whether poetry can truly be called Place Writing… ‘By choosing this genre to specialise in’, I said, ‘I hope that my work will be recognisably authentic, obviously produced by a human rather than a machine.’ My son-in-law said, casually, ‘I wonder if AI can come up with a Place Writing poem?’ Would AI know what Place Writing is?

Ah well, here’s the result, don’t get too excited. I wanted to share it with you because our forks, along with our conversation, were suspended in the air as my son-in-law read out this poem (generated on 30 March 2024 using the machine learning app, Poe AI):

A Place Writing Poem

In the realm of the written word, let us embark,
On a journey where places come alive, a sacred arc.
A poem I shall weave, like a tapestry of ink,
Celebrating the art of place writing, let us think.

With pen in hand, we wander through landscapes vast,
Immersed in the beauty that memories hold fast.
A writer's heart, a traveler's soul, intertwined,
As we paint pictures with words, a world enshrined.

In ancient cities, where history whispers on the breeze,
The cobblestone streets tell tales of triumphs and unease.
The cathedrals stand tall, reaching for the heavens above,
Their spires touching the clouds, a testament to love.

Through the meandering paths of enchanted woods,
Where sunlight filters through, as if in a poetic mood.
Nature's symphony plays, as birdsong fills the air,
And the fragrance of wildflowers dances without a care.

On sandy shores, where waves kiss the land in a gentle embrace,
Footprints in the sand tell of stories, time can't erase.
Seashells whisper secrets, whispered by the deep,
As the ocean's rhythm lulls us into a tranquil sleep.

From bustling markets, vibrant and alive with sound,
To quiet cafes, where solitude and inspiration are found.
Every corner, every nook, holds a tale to be told,
A writer's sanctuary, where stories unfold.

Place writing captures the essence of a moment's grace,
Bringing distant lands closer, in a single embrace.
With pen and paper, we travel far and near,
Exploring worlds unknown, erasing all fear.

So let us celebrate the power of place writing's art,
Where words become the window to a writer's heart.
Through prose and verse, we shall forever roam,
In the realm of place writing, our souls find their home.

I think it goes on a bit, and I’m sure the poets among you will be cringing, but as an exercise this has brought me closer to understand the power of artificial intelligence. Later, in order to learn more about the app, POE AI, I watched a video on YouTube by AI Revolution. It explains the differences between some of the chatbots currently on the market and their specialist areas of ‘intelligence’. Clearly, they can be extremely helpful in learning.

While you enjoy my photo of the deer grazing in Windsor Great Park, I want you to know that I’m very motivated to develop my Place Writing career (this is my third career, and you can read more about how I got here on my About page). In order to write about place I need to be in it, to be in the field, to be present, and use my senses to experience it. And I love this part of the research. Can a chatbot do this? No. But as more texts labelled Place Writing appear on the internet, there will be more for bots to trawl and use in compilations that could be presented as being written by sentient human beings.

Back at the dining table, we discussed our travel plans for the year over berries and ice cream, and reminisced over places we’d been to. As the bot says, ‘Through prose and verse, we shall forever roam’. Poetry is one of the highest forms of expression and I love being part of a family that enjoys words but I think I’ll stick to creative non-fiction. However, if AI can put together the rhymes above in literally less than two seconds, where does it leave us? In my view, AI is indeed capable of killing our writing careers. What do you think?

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Links and Credits:

Christian Payne, aka Documentally.

POE AI is here.

From AI Revolution, a YouTube video explaining POE AI, what it is and what it can do.

Photograph is my own.

You might be interested in an earlier post: an interview with poet, Judy O’Kane.