Kids ask the darndest things.
On a virtual Author Q & A with a school classroom that read The Way Between, I was asked the question: what do I think about ChatGPT and AI novels? Rather than tear off on a long-winded rant about the long arcs of automation and tech capitalism’s lack of concern for the human toll of their inventions, I turned it around and asked the 10-12 year old students:
Do you think AI could have written The Way Between? Almost every hand went up, to my chagrin, so I asked a second question:
Do you think it would have been the same book? Interestingly, a chorus of no’s broke out, with a lot of head shaking. Curious, I asked the young readers a third question:
What might have been different about the book if AI wrote it? (And here’s where we fall in love with these kids again.) They said: the quality of the writing wouldn’t be as good, the characters would not be as interesting, the message of peace would probably be weakened or replaced with violence.
By engaging the students with questions (rather than lecturing them), we all had a chance to learn something together. Ultimately, this exchange is one of the reasons why it might be a good idea to keep human authors employed writing stories for humanity. The Q & As might surprise us all. Would an AI have a hunch that turning the question around would engage young readers’ thoughtful reflections on the nature of intelligence and writing?
When humanity is longing for a different world, we have to break out of our habitual thinking and the ruts of cultural trends. We don’t need mere regurgitation of the past. We need vision for our future. This is deeply true for novels like the Ari Ara Series. Artificial intelligence might take a look at our trends and assume that humans need more violent fantasy, or that we are intentionally training our youth to support war through our epic stories. But, with the appalling levels of violence in our communities and schools, we desperately need to be telling different stories than the ones that got us into this vast tragedy.
My stories are designed to show a way forward. You have to buck the algorithmic trends to do that. Thank you to all of you for continuing to share Ari Ara (and any of my other novels) with your friends and families. It’s a wonderful example of our collective human intelligence.
With gratitude,
Rivera Sun
PS The students I spoke with read The Way Between as an entire class. Next year, they’ll read The Lost Heir. The year after that, Desert Song will show up in their literature curriculum. They’ve been doing this for three years now. It’s an honor to get to zoom with the students each time. Can you imagine if every middle school in the US was reading the Ari Ara Series?
Jan Slakov
says:Thanks for sharing this great story – of how you dealt with their response to your question, of how these students are reading your books. I thoroughly enjoyed The Way Between and am intent on sharing…
Best wishes for the new year and always! from BC, Canada