[Voices of the MZ Generation Column] Will Writing Become Meaningless in the Age of AI?

Although the Writing Environment Has Changed with the Advancement of AI,
The Essence of Writing?Expressing Experiences in One's Own Words?Remains Unchanged

Recently, during my writing classes, I often demonstrate "on-the-spot writing" in an impromptu manner. I ask the audience to suggest any topic, and then I show them how sentences are created as I type right there in front of them. This moment is usually the most engaging and interesting part of the writing class for everyone involved.

In fact, part of the reason I do this is to somewhat dispel the audience's skepticism. With the rapid advancement of AI, many people now generate text and post it on social networking services (SNS). As a result, in writing classes, nine out of ten questions are about AI. People ask whether there is still a need to write well now that generating text with AI has become so easy from the start, whether I also use AI to write, and whether the profession of a writer is in jeopardy.

However, I do not feel any sense of crisis or difficulty due to the emergence of AI. The main reason I write every day is simply because I enjoy writing. Writing brings me joy in many ways. It helps me organize my thoughts, refresh my mood, spark new ideas, and sometimes even dissolve emotional knots within me. Above all, the act of expressing what I feel and think about the world is itself a great pleasure.

For example, watching the drama "Poksak Sogasuda" and simply finishing it is a different "cultural experience" from discussing it with my wife. Furthermore, writing about it becomes an entirely different "cultural experience." Because I enjoy such experiences, I do not want AI to replace them for me. If I were to say, "chatGPT, I watched episode 12 of Poksak Sogasuda today; please guess what I felt and express it eloquently in writing," what meaning could that possibly have for me? I want to write about what I felt myself.

Because more than 90% of my writing is this kind of personal writing, the influence of AI is inevitably minimal. Of course, AI can be helpful for searching for information, fact-checking, or supplementing examples. But that is the extent of it. I want to write about what I felt during my travels. I want to write about my feelings regarding the day I spent. I want to organize my thoughts about the movies or books I have seen. In fact, I believe those who ask me about "AI" in my writing classes are no different. They have come this far because they want to bring out what is inside themselves and share it with others through writing.

Recently, I wrote a book containing stories about the age of AI. The book, titled "AI, Writing, Copyright," will be published soon. In this book, I aimed to comprehensively address all the fears, crises, and anxieties surrounding AI in our time, as well as ways to utilize it, copyright issues, and the continued relevance of writing and life. I tried to include "everything about AI" that is within me, but it did not take long to write. The experience of pouring out all the stories that welled up inside me, as sentences and ideas continuously inspired one another, was itself immensely enjoyable.

In this sense, AI is simply another subject for me, and at most, a tool that can provide some assistance. The discovery of a new tool does not change the essence of humanity or life. Ten years from now, twenty years from now, I will still be writing about my travels, my reading, and my love in my own words.

Jung Jiwoo, cultural critic and attorney