196: AI Can’t Write, But You Can - with Tom Albrighton

Regular listeners to The Hobcast Book Show might be forgiven for thinking that we're obsessed with AI. There's barely a week when we don't discuss the latest encroachment of AI into the publishing world, whether it be machine generated text and covers, or AI mimicking the work of audiobook narrators. Above all, we're concerned about how the big tech companies have ingested copyrighted works into their systems without any recompense for their creators. Our guest this week, Tom Albrighton, has just released a book examining these issues and assessing the scale and impact of AI systems on human creativity, particularly writing. How much of a threat do AI systems pose? In AI Can't Write, But You Can: Why human writing matters in the age of ChatGPT, Tom argues that AI systems are essentially highly-developed predictive text machines. They're good at synthesising what's expected in a certain type of writing, but they remain soulless and prone to mistakes. Tom says that humans should lean in to what makes them unique as authors, and make the most of what AI's lack - emotion. This is a provocative and timely interview.

Also this week, have Penguin Random House found a way to beat the AI companies? And why are hardback sales down year-on-year?

https://www.amazon.co.uk/Cant-Write-But-You-Can-ebook/dp/B0DFJ3RXRB

(25) Tom Albrighton | LinkedIn

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