Hello everyone and Happy Mother’s Day to all of the mothers out there.

Recently I announced that I was planning to use Chat GPT to assist me in editing my current work in progress. Well after using it for the first four chapters, I had to stop. Chat GPT is good for what it is but it is not without some issues. For example, it has flagged some of my content for violating some of its policies. My novel does have some violent scenes but even after I told them it was fiction and none of it was real, it continued to flag more content.

I became frustrated with this and decided that since AI is so hypersensitive that I cannot use it to assist in editing. Another issue I had a problem with was that it would cut out a lot of important dialogue and turn it into a narrative. Dialogue that I felt was necessary in order to create certain feelings from the characters. The only thing that I did get out of it was its use of the English language which reminded me to be more mindful to watch my words such as making sure I choose the right word for the correct meaning when there are different spellings of words that sound the same. For example:

• Break and Brake
• Baring and bearing
• Creak and Creek
• Hole and whole

The first thing I did in editing this novel was proofread it to see if I wanted to add any new content or characters and to cut out scenes that I found to be irrelevant or if they just didn’t fit. Then I began copy edits. I would then let Chat GPT rewrite a chapter to get some ideas on the structure. But each time, I found myself proofreading what Chat did and not being satisfied with the rewrites. Yes, it made some mistakes.

 I have been doing one chapter per day and I’m currently on chapter ten. I also had to change a word because it was a word that was copywritten by someone famous and to avoid getting sued I had to not only change the word but the character as well. But since this character did not have a lot of scenes, it is not driving me crazy to make these changes, just a minor setback.

Be advised that Chat GPT can only edit a few pages at a time so don’t try to give it an entire chapter or you will be overloading it with information. I don’t know how safe your work is after letting AI work with it so if you must use it, do it with caution and do your homework to find out what this technology is capable of. The last thing you want is for your unpublished work to accidentally be seen, or God forbid used; by someone else due to a glitch in the system.

I recently found out that Chat GPT is powered by humans which was sort of surprising to me but was also somewhat of a relief. It means that even AI has its limits and it is still ultimately up to us humans to turn ideas into real art. Because although everyone is going crazy over AI being able to allegedly do things better than humans do, there is one thing it cannot and will never be able to do. Technology cannot put its heart and soul and life experiences into its work. Why? Because they don’t have a heart or a soul. Only humans do and that is something I want these developers to remember. We were all put on this earth for a reason and it was to build and use all of earth’s resources and turn them into something wonderful and useful, not to be cast aside or forgotten. People are becoming afraid of this technology and you know what? If it is invoking fear, then it’s probably because that is what the creators wanted. My question is…why?

Until next time.