01/06/2025
“Only humans can write,” according to this impassioned takedown of large language models. Chicago Tribune columnist Warner (The Writer’s Practice) argues that because such AI programs as ChatGPT merely predict what word is most likely to follow the previous one, they don’t have the intention required by actual writing. Articulating one’s thoughts forces one to develop the ideas one aims to express, Warner contends, warning that attempting to off-load such cognition has insidious consequences. For instance, he discusses how Vanderbilt University staff used ChatGPT to compose a statement of condolence after a 2023 mass shooting at Michigan State University, suggesting that in doing so, the staffers were able to address the tragedy without having to grapple with it. Warner offers smart commentary on the downsides of AI, particularly its ability to bypass critical thinking, and the suggestions on adjusting to the software’s increasing popularity are thought-provoking if broad. For example, he laments that ChatGPT’s ability to write generic five-paragraph essays that receive good grades demonstrates how asking students to write to the rubrics of standardized tests has turned writing into “a box-checking exercise” that even a machine can complete, asserting that instructors should instead devise more reflective assignments. This provides plenty of food for thought. Agent: Melissa Flashman, Janklow & Nesbit Assoc. (Feb.)
This is the book with everything you need to know about writing and AI all in one place, lucidly and passionately argued. Every teacher and every professor should have this book. Every legislator, every policymaker. Every parent and every student. Every publisher of newspapers, websites, and books. Here, John Warner exposes the ethical wasteland of replacing human writing with machine-made ‘content.’ He warns of the profound environmental costs of AI—trillions of gallons of water to cool data servers that produce nonsense no one wants or needs. And he reminds us only humans can write and only humans can read, and that writing is thinking—and if we allow machines to write for ourselves, then we’ve allowed them to think for us, too. And that is the sorriest thing a human could do. But Warner provides a better path. This is a scary book, but a hopeful one, too, and an absolutely essential one.”—Dave Eggers
“Oh, how I’ve been waiting for this book! With his many years of experience as a writing teacher, Warner is the perfect guide for helping us understand what AI means for writers. Now is the perfect opportunity to rethink our ideas about writing and what’s so special about being a human who works with words. I stole a ton of inspiration from this book and so will you.”—Austin Kleon, author of New York Times bestseller Steal Like an Artist
“Does AI threaten the art of writing itself? As Warner’s wise, warm, and much-needed intervention shows us, the answer is no. By automating the production of low-quality text, AI companies can, however, threaten the practice and economics of writing. This lucid and compelling book gives us the tools to reject and resist what’s noxious about generative AI and to meaningfully engage with what it means to write, as a human, in a world increasingly overrun by cheap and meaningless content.”—Brian Merchant, author of Blood in the Machine
“Reading this new contribution from Warner makes us realize what we’ve been missing in other works about, or generated by, AI: experienced, authentic writing by someone in charge of their craft, fully respecting the human on the other end. This work is deeply readable. Not that it is simplistic, but instead, that it’s so well written and deeply substantive that we find it moving and applicable. Sign me up for this level of cogency.”—Rick Wormeli, author of Fair Isn’t Always Equal
“All educators should read this thoughtful analysis of the impact of generative artificial intelligence on themselves, their students, and education more generally. Warner’s arguments rest on the notion that authentic writing tasks are fully intertwined with thinking, feeling, and learning. But from those foundations, he discovers deeper insights about how humans and machines interact, and why we should never allow automation to supplant the work that makes us human.”—James M. Lang, author of Distracted
“This book is essential reading for everyone—writers, students, teachers, parents, administrators—navigating the evolving landscape of AI writing tools and tech company hype. Warner makes a powerful case for the role of writing as thinking, writing as feeling, and writing as a human practice that will endure in the AI era. Warner’s clear-eyed wisdom about writing and teaching, and his engaging—and very human—voice, will leave readers inspired, informed, and optimistic about the future of writing.”—Jane Rosenzweig, director, Harvard College Writing Center
“A necessary intervention in all the marketing hype and overpromising about artificial intelligence. This book is a must-read for anyone who feels pressured to adopt this new technology: teachers, students, professional writers, and nonprofessional writers (emailers, all of us) alike. Warner challenges the notion we aren’t ‘innovating’ or ‘optimizing’ or churning out ‘content’ fast enough. He explores why writing, particularly in school, has become such an awful chore—for students to produce and teachers to grade. The fix here isn’t new software that promises to make brainstorming and drafting a breeze. Rather, we must revitalize the practices of care and curiosity together, and, in doing so, help foster our understanding of one another—an exercise in civics, not just in essay composition. More Than Words is honest about the struggles we all have with crafting written language, but it helps us see the real dangers that will come with its automation.”—Audrey Watters, author of Teaching Machines
“In lively prose and with many engaging personal anecdotes, [Warner] deftly explains how ChatGPT mines data for examples to imitate… anyone who loves to read and write, who teaches excellence and personal achievement, and who remains convinced that people are unique will find this book a welcome arrow in their humanist quiver.”—Kirkus Reviews
"Warner offers smart commentary on the downsides of AI, particularly its ability to bypass critical thinking, and the suggestions on adjusting to the software’s increasing popularity are thought-provoking… This provides plenty of food for thought."—Publisher's Weekly
“Warner’s book offers many reasons to feel hopeful about the future of writing.”—Jasmine Gonzalez, Porchlight
"Compelling"—Wall Street Journal
"Warner uses this anecdote illustrate[s] that the act of writing is not about the production of words, but is, rather, a complicated and deeply human process that involves a relationship between thought, memory, intention and language. "—The Washington Post
“Warner takes what could be a dry, technical subject and enlivens it with plenty of personal experiences and real AI responses to prompts to illustrate his point.”—Christianity Today
2024-12-11
Minds over machines.
Warner argues that artificial intelligence, including chatbots such as ChatGPT, should never replace human writing as a personal practice and a living art. In lively prose and with many engaging personal anecdotes, he deftly explains how ChatGPT mines data for examples to imitate. He calls attention to authors and artists who have sued generative AI companies, accusing them of “hoovering up” copyrighted text and images. The real point of Warner’s polemic, however, is a view of writing as difficult, worthy of struggle, and central to shaping an individual’s sense of self. AI systems that purport to write for us, he claims, offer only simulacra of writing. Stringing together words and phrases, he notes, is not writing. Writing is creative, much like mathematics. Pocket calculators made computation easier for students. Real mathematics—the study of complex ideas represented in numbers, with equations of beauty and power—is done by humans. We may no longer need to memorize log tables, just as we may no longer need to learn how to write a five-paragraph essay (the demise of which Warner has chronicled elsewhere). What we need to do, instead, is read books closely and emotionally. Warner avers, after surveying a range of AI-constructed texts: “I’d satisfied myself that in terms of writing, real writing that comes from a fully embodied process of thinking and feeling, powered by an intention to communicate human-to-human, GPT had nothing to offer.” Some may be content with a B-minus paper, just as some may be content, he says, with a mediocre dish from a home-delivery meal service. Warner’s resistance to AI could be akin to trying to hold back the tide with a broom. But anyone who loves to read and write, who teaches excellence and personal achievement, and who remains convinced that people are unique will find this book a welcome arrow in their humanist quiver.
An impassioned plea for writing as a human practice and a social necessity in the age of AI.
