Generative artificial intelligence is showing us precisely how important the journey is, as opposed to the destination, when the discipline of writing as we know it is called into question.

Because, undoubtedly, it has been.

Generative AI has distorted our view of writing as a craft. It has fundamentally shaken the way we view information synthesis and critical thinking. Its proliferation pushes us toward a worldview that prioritizes the final product above all else, in isolation from actual thought. 

The process of writing itself can be enlightening and informative, and the knowledge that something out there can do our jobs within an instant creates a whole lot of unease that traditional forms of non-professional writing will be phased out. Worse yet is the possibility that publications will rely on generative AI instead of human writers. The infamous college essay is already being eulogized.

This unease also comes with distrust. How can we possibly parse what is written and backed by real people from what was spat out by algorithms and riddled with inaccuracies? 

Even though multiple tools posit themselves as near-foolproof AI checkers, it’s nearly impossible to verify their accuracy to any real end. This makes it so we don’t know who, or what, to believe when faced with a piece of writing. 

It’s dystopian. 

Writers used to bring us from point A to point B. Now, it seems, we can just teleport. Is the journey really more important than the destination? It seems the jury is out. 

University of Minnesota associate professor of writing studies Dan Card said the proliferation of AI tools is causing intense distrust in our consumption of information, creating the opportunity for a resurgence of transparency and human-forward writing. 

“These tools can sort of destabilize our information environment,” Card said. “And, I mean, one potential outcome is that we just stop trusting information altogether because we can’t verify that we should trust it, and maybe that raises the value of information that we can trust.”

Writing isn’t just about putting pen to paper or typing in a document. It’s a process and mediation. 

It also plays an important role in education outside of the obvious. There’s a reason why students other than English and journalism majors are instructed to write. 

“Writing is such an important part of education,” Card said. “Often the purpose of writing in education isn’t actually to learn how to write, but it’s just to sort of foster thinking and help us evaluate learning.”

There is writing out there that can be aided by AI, however. 

University assistant professor of computer science and engineering Harmanpreet Kaur said these generative tools can be extremely helpful when used for more formulaic types of writing as opposed to abstract or creative genres and projects. 

“Where there’s a lot of templated writing, like, for example, legal memos, or sort of where previously written documents reflect how future documents will be written,” Kaur said. “That kind of writing can be pretty comparable in picking up on the same text. Ultimately, it’s a next word or a next token predictor based on all the historical data.”

The problem arises when it all becomes the same. 

Beyond just the value and trustworthiness of writing as a medium, AI has the potential to transform the way we approach writing beyond what published works can read like. It can change what writing as a field constitutes and demands, as well as what it means in a larger context in regard to thought and productivity. 

Kaur said despite its young age, AI is already beginning to inform writing styles. 

“We noticed this also in the assignments that we see from students,” Kaur said. “But there’s academic research that has been published that shows that this is happening sort of at a broader societal scale, where there’s more convergent and homogenous ideas coming up in people’s writings.”

Maybe there will be a reactionary shift. It’s possible that in the near future, more idiosyncratic and imperfect writing will be upheld as a standard for excellence, a shift toward writing as an exploration into human thought with its telltale nuances and quirks. 

This could be the start of something really good.

Kaur said the use of AI in education is also changing the way we conceptualize learning. 

“We have to find new ways of evaluating people’s thinking rather than just their outputs,” Kaur said.

Card said the importance of thought cannot be overstated, and the way we regard the process and craft of writing is shifting. 

“So much of writing is sort of a physical act that accompanies thinking,” Card said. “And if we’re changing the way that process is happening, sometimes the writing comes out and looks good, but the thinking hasn’t happened the same way.” 

There is no replacement for human thought, right?