The Value of Bad Writing: How AI is Making Human Creators More Valuable
What the Arts and Crafts movement tells us about AI content and our unique humanity
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AI tools have become incredibly powerful and increasingly good at mimicking human writing. GPT-3 and related tools like Jasper AI can compose articles, blog posts, and even entire books at scale.
For the first time in history, it’s possible to create thousands of pages of text with almost no effort at all. But a new backlash against this content is already brewing.
As AI continues to scale up, we’re going to see a strange trend — bad, flawed writing will become way more prominent and way more commercially valuable.
That might seem strange or negative, but it’s actually a wonderful thing. And it’s nothing new — the same trend has happened before in the world of objects and artisanship. AI is about to bring it to the world of writing and other art.
Here’s what will drive this strange trend — and what it means for human creators.
Rise of the Artisans
Up until about the 18th century, most objects — and nearly all art — were produced by people.
Crafts and trades were handed down from generation to generation. My last name Smith reflects the fact that the earliest members of my family were blacksmiths. Many people are named for the trade that their families participated in.
Artisans were skilled producers. Leveraging knowledge gained over generations and passed down through family ties and apprenticeships, they created high-quality furniture, tools, art, and other items — many of which survive today.
It’s important to recognize the skills of these early artisans but also not to glorify this period too much.
Yes, humans created some amazing objects. But the high cost of producing nearly everything meant that everyday people often couldn’t afford to buy much at all. Wealth was concentrated among an aristocratic ruling class even more so than today, and peasants, as well as many of the artisans themselves, had almost nothing — sometimes not even enough to survive.
