The last couple of months have been pretty exciting. I left my 2nd job at the public library (which I very much miss) and began to revel in the simple pleasure of two days off in a row. That meant spending one day doing all of life’s maintenance tasks and the other day enjoying leisure time. It felt a bit decadent. And I began to explore my abilities as an editor and found my confidence growing.

Amid that, after hearing about ChatGPT for months, I was feeling very angry that it existed. I hadn’t even wanted to sign up for it because I didn’t want my email associated with it. I was a writer!!!! A creative!!!!

But I dipped in one toe. I asked it silly questions like, “Can you fix my life?” and of course, it could not. “How can I meet Hugh Jackman?” It told me to buy a ticket to a Meet and Greet. Uh… no. But then, one day, I asked it to give me the plot of a bestseller, which gave me a very interesting story. I didn’t like all of it, but I liked parts, and suddenly I realized that ChatGPT was really useful as a prompt generator. Here, with ChatGPT, after a long fallow period, I had a prompt that sent my creativity soaring. I am almost 7,000 words into this book, a genre I’ve never written in – mystery/thriller/romance. It’s fun; the only thing holding back my progress is having time to work on it.

I know Artificial Intelligence can be badly misused. I have heard how it can replicate a voice and scam a loved one into sending money. I have heard about all those charlatans writing 100% A.I.-generated novels and making a killing. I know it could potentially eliminate my very purpose for existence. Who needs a writer or an editor when ChatGPT can provide both services? But knowing all that isn’t going to stop it.

Change is inevitable. Looking ahead, I saw this massive A.I. wave of change crashing down on me and knew either I could let it bury me, tossing me underwater until I drowned, or I could learn to ride it and, with some luck, come out of the barrel in one piece.

Suddenly I wanted to know more. So I searched Udemy, and there were courses there to teach you how to use this newfangled technology. Ever since, I have been in a flurry of dementia-delaying learning. It is a playground that leaves me marveling each day at the possibilities around me. My initial naiveté that it held all the wisdom of humanity has been replaced with the wisdom that it holds all the knowledge of the Internet, which is a vastly different thing. It definitely needs human supervision.

Even so, I feel like I have been waiting my whole life to have this tool at my disposal. It feels like there is no vision I can’t explore – no idea I can’t communicate. Sleeping is challenging some nights because of the possibilities ping-ponging through my brain.

I have so much more to learn. I wish I had enough disposable income to do nothing but explore this new technology and the creativity it is unleashing. I am still terrified of it. There is so much evil that can be done with it. But I am also fascinated.

Of course, the scammers, the liars, the cheats, and the posers will find a tool like this infinitely valuable for creating the illusion that they have talent. Those intent on A.I. misuse or those lacking A.I. ethics have the potential to harm society without regulation. But those with talent will find the A.I. writing tools valuable in unchaining them from the drudgery of research, and it will give them leaps in creative directions they might not have otherwise undertaken.

I still have some learning to do, but I am well on my way to becoming a Priestess of A.I. What a hoot.