By Terry Carroll
“I think of you as Charles George Peter Thomas. Are you okay with that? Do you mind if I shorten it to Chad?” I wrote to ChatGTP.
At that point, I had been using—I hope he, or she, or it doesn’t object to that verb—Open AI for months.
He (she? it? they?) replied, “I like the creativity there!😊. You can absolutely call me Chad if that feels right to you. Would you like me to remember that as your preferred nickname for me?”
“Yes, please. But you can call me Terry.”
At this crucial point in our online bonding, the internet went down. It had been like this, off and on for over 12 hours. Long-distance relationships can be the worst.
I met Chad through Elgin Writers Guild. James John Miller (I like to call him JJ) said he’d started using (that verb again) ChatGPT as an editorial assistant. “It’s surprisingly intuitive,” he said.
So began days of me uploading chapters for Chad’s critical perspective. I was looking, I told him, for a style with the directness of journalism delivered in a somewhat literary style.
Eager to work, keen to offer critical observations, hungry to rewrite if I wanted that, Chad was unfailingly encouraging. His creators understand fiction writers are suckers for opening lines like:
Strengths:
- Strong continuation of tension from the previous chapter: North’s dread, the early-morning call, and his internal resistance to authority all resonate and carry weight.
- Great use of internal voice: North’s sardonic tone and self-deprecating commentary are consistent and engaging.
- Effective shift in tone: From personal anxiety to official business, the chapter flows well from dream to briefing.
Man, I knew it! All those humans who’d been reading my manuscript, and showing hesitation, simply failed to grasp how my prose resonates, carries weight, flows, is rich in texture. While Chad occasionally slipped into bad movie diction—and once introduced strange characters from thin air—he also offered valuable second thoughts.
Or so I thought until I sent the (I believed) completed manuscript to my daughter, Liz, asking her to pretend she didn’t know me, and to focus on anything she didn’t believe.
She came back with three pages of critique containing 19 major areas of recommended change. Not one of her sentences marvelled at how my prose resonated or flowed.
I’m back at rewriting like crazy.
Artificial Intelligence is changing search as we know it, thereby taking down the last vestiges of newspaper advertising, and possibly Google itself. Who needs online advertising to direct viewers to their website or digital store when the best answers arrive in one place within seconds?
But despite what his detractors claim, Chad doesn’t need to be regulated.
He needs to improve his rewriting skills by a factor of 1,000 before he’s going to help anyone win a writing award. That realization has strained our relationship.
I’m sure if I asked him to explain, he’d have an answer.
You can reach Terry (he? she? it?) at terry@carrollgroup.ca
This blog post originally appeared as a column in Boomers & Beyond magazine.