John Grisham, a bestselling thriller writer, has voiced concerns about the “threat” to his profession from AI, stating it cannot be “truly appreciated… explained or predicted”. He is part of a collective of writers, including Jonathan Franzen, Jodi Picoult, and George RR Martin, who allege that OpenAI unlawfully trained its AI-based chatbot, ChatGPT, using their work in a recent legal action.
Grisham told BBC One’s Breakfast program this week: “It’s my turn to file suit.”
“For 30 years, I’ve been sued by everyone else — for slander, defamation, copyright, whatever — so it’s my turn,” he continued.
Whether Grisham and other eminent writers pursuing legal action against OpenAI are successful is still open to debate, but the threat they see with ChatGPT’s capabilities is clear.
At its core, ChatGPT is but a tool, a very handy one at that that can generate vast amounts of text based on patterns it has identified from the data it has been trained on. While it can replicate styles and generate creative pieces, it does not possess genuine human emotion, intuition or the depth of experience that gives nuance and richness to literary works, something Grisham — who has brought joy to millions with his novels, not just because of his unique voice, but also his personal perspectives, emotions and insights derived from his life and career experiences — has at hand.
While ChatGPT could perhaps mimic Grisham’s writing style to a degree, it wouldn’t be able to infuse its outputs with the authenticity and human touch that Grisham can.
For now, at least, Grisham should be able to rest easy.
Featured image: Credit: Blake Grady, Wikipedia
