Writing, Humans, Businesses, And An AI World
The Challenges That Are Presenting Themselves And The Difficult Dynamics At Play
Writing, Humans, Businesses, And An AI World
The Challenges That Are Presenting Themselves And The Difficult Dynamics At Play
Written by a human, for humans, always.
Did you ever dream of becoming a writer?
I think it is a dream that many people have...
But the definition has changed over the years.
In the far past...
A writer would have written scrolls...
Then we had books...
Journalists...
Today, we have Digital Writers...
Just to name a few.
As the landscape around writing has changed...
So has how writers function...
And as things develop...
There is always the question...
Of how writers are going to continue their work.
The printing press brought this question.
The internet brought it as well.
And today...
We are finding ourselves in another interesting place when it comes to writing.
I am seeing it all over the place.
We are coming to this strange intersection...
Between writing, humans, businesses, and AI.
What do I mean?
Well, let’s start with writing itself.
What is writing?
What is its value?
Some writers today still write books.
You still have journalists.
But then we get into the Digital Writers, like myself.
What qualifies as writing these days?
Some people are article purists and push for longer form as a baseline...
Designed to distinguish certain writers from...
The short-form spammers who figure out ways to put out immense levels of writing...
But which may be as little as a sentence or a single question.
What makes one a writer, and where do we draw the line?
Should we draw a line?
This brings us to the next area of intersection, which is the businesses.
Different businesses have developed over time...
Usually catering to different types of content.
Platforms like Vocal and Medium tend to be more directed to article writers.
You have platforms like LinkedIn, Threads, and X that have dedicated themselves to social content.
There are also platforms like Typeshare, which are primarily writing tools that connect you to other platforms but have social aspects.
Do not forget about Substack for your Newsletters, which has been expanding into other creator areas.
Plus, you can always look at building your own blog and seeing where that takes you.
Why do these businesses go in these different directions?
Money.
They believe that there is a market which they can profit from...
While, at least in theory, allowing writers to also profit.
But...
Does that work?
Well...
It seems to be a strange bag of some successes...
Some utter failures...
Some that touched success and fell from the skies like Icarus...
But the question becomes even more difficult when you begin to add in the last intersection...
AI.
Does AI constitute writing?
Does it depend?
What happens when you have spammers who create junk...
Knowingly...
And use that to break the systems of businesses so that they get paid more?
What are the businesses to do in that situation?
Especially when it makes the writers irritated how they either...
Are losing a lot of money to the AI Junk...
Or never seem to be able to get their work found through all the junk?
(Assuming we do not fall into the other trap where the reason a writer may not be found may have to do with the quality of their work... And they do not want to accept that.)
The situation is made all the more blurred...
When the AI being utilized is either created or funded by the businesses themselves.
Do they continue to push the boundaries with AI...
Or do they move towards the humans that utilize their platforms?
Where is the line that is created?
Who gets rewarded?
Who gets punished?
Do the human writers get punished?
Do those using AI get punished?
What if the AI is being used as an accessibility tool by individuals?
How would you know whether this is their goal or not?
What if the writer comes from a country that has an overabundance of individuals trying to break the systems?
Do you block the country at the expense of the real writers?
Or do you put significant time and effort into trying to distinguish real writers?
If you try to support the writers, will the profit even make it worth it?
If you try to push human content as much as possible...
Will the writers be willing to go through a long process before they are able to receive money for their work?
I have seen different platforms go in different directions...
Make different promises...
Enact plans.
Some of those plans seem to fail...
Despite many promises from Medium to create better opportunities for writers, I have not made $30 in total...
With some of my most read articles (Nearly 200 on some) making less than 10 cents...
While others with only 2 reads somehow making over $1.00...
With over 1,200 articles on the platform in total.
Now, my primary goal as a writer is “not” to make money from writing, and most of my income comes from coaching leaders, entrepreneurs, and business owners...
Taking them from the failed models of leadership and moving them towards Sageship...
So that could explain these poor numbers on Medium.
I may simply not be optimizing and “playing” the platform the correct way...
Or...
There is the possibility that my writing is just absolute trash, which could explain those numbers...
Except on another platform, Vocal, I have made hundreds of dollars...
From the same articles.
So, it seems that my writing cannot be “that” bad (but feel free to tell me if I’m wrong!)
Vocal though has taken a very strict stance on how they pay writers...
All in an effort to try to pay real writers for real content as much as possible.
But the hoops that people have to go through to prove themselves to be a real person...
Creates a different type of restriction that excludes some individuals.
Then we can look at a platform like LinkedIn where they have allowed AI to thrive...
And for a while it seemed like AI was dominating the platform...
But recently I’ve seen my numbers ticking up as individuals appear to be getting tired of AI-written content...
And are seeking out real written content on the platform on their own.
Will that continue to happen?
Or will it create some form of sub-niches within the platform?
Look...
I’m not here to say any one way is “right” or “wrong”...
To be honest...
That would not make any sense anyway.
Writers want to get seen.
Businesses need to make money to survive.
Not every human has good intentions.
AI is still a relatively new technology that is in constant flux.
Different niches cater to different audiences.
We can create places for them.
Some exist.
Some are adapting.
Some are disappearing.
The dynamics that are currently at play stir up a lot of emotions.
Fear.
Creativity.
Exhaustion.
Puzzlement.
Anger.
Pain.
All of these and more are moving through more people than we realize exist...
All who are wondering how these are going to play out...
All wondering what it means for them and their livelihoods...
All wondering whether the pains will destroy what they have built...
Or whether they might catch on to something they never imagined.
What this means...
Is that what it means to write and to be a writer...
Is changing in our world.
How the dynamics will play out...
Only time will reveal this to us.
To Your Sageship,
Cody
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