There weren’t many people at this month’s meeting; the summer can be difficult because people like to go on holiday during the summer, especially during the school holidays. Nevertheless, we had two familiar faces and two new faces, and a very interesting discussion – more on that later.

We watched the new countdown timer on the website to see what would happen at t minus zero; it started counting upwards to the end of the meeting. The timer still needs some tweaking: it’s an out-of-date plugin that needed some work before it would function without error. Now, we just need to make it work as expected.

Introductions and progress reports

Caity is still plugging away at her psychological thriller. She got back into it a couple of weekends ago while on writing retreat at Churchill College1 with Churchill Writers2. If you ever get the chance to go on a writing retreat, take it!

At the retreat, there was an extended version of one of their regular meetings, during which they had a free-writing session – much the same as we have in our own meetings. They were asked to write a fifty-word memoir. It didn’t have to be about a real person, so Caity picked her protagonist’s landlady. Some months ago, she got her to talk about her past3 to see why she’s so bitter, so she used that to inform her memoir, which she got down to fifty-two words. During the reading session later that day, she read it out, and Rosie, who leads Churchill Writers, liked it so much, she’s putting it forward to appear in the Churchill Review4 (with a few extra words). Caity is very excited!

Our first new face this month writes for himself; to this effect, he’s self-published two stories. The first was one he’d written during NaNoWriMo5 about someone who writes the fortunes in cookies – and the fortunes come true. The second one really appeals to me. It’s inspired by the way cats stare at things we humans can’t see – invisible cat things, as I’ve heard them called. Check out The Blight by Andrew Dart6 if you’re interested (scroll down the page to see readers’ photos of their pets with the book).

Our resident zombie-apocalypse guy continues editing his first novel in his series of zombie books while writing the third one in the series. This involves a bit of rereading to make sure he knows where he’s up to. This system of editing an earlier book while writing a later one allows him to add foreshadowing to and to plant seeds in the earlier one. I like it!

Finally, we have our second new face, who has written a little bit of a story in which sci-fi may meet magic. It’s intriguing stuff, with a ring of The 1007 and the reboot of Battlestar Galactica8 about it.

These similarities do not mean that this new story will be the same as either of those that have gone before. There may be only seven basic plots9, but each writer is informed by their own experience, which is unique to them, so each of our stories will be different. We see this at every meeting during our free-writing sessions: every member present is given the same prompt, but the results of the prompt are very different.

Speaking of free-writing prompts…

Free writing

Over the last few weeks, Caity has noticed the council has been going mad with tarmac10, pouring it over broken pavements and patching up potholes. Even from where she was sitting, she could see newly tarmacked pavement outside the window of Prosper11, where we hold our meetings. Therefore, this month’s prompt was tarmac. Because there were so few of us, we wrote for ten minutes instead of the usual five.

It’s surprising how much we could all write about tarmac, and none of it was the same, ranging from tarmacking the pavements that caused the end of a marriage to the realisation that one character has to pay a price for their future happiness.

Free writing is an excellent way to begin writing. The prompt, as we’ve discovered, doesn’t have to be anything fancy, but it can lead to new story ideas, inspiration for current stories and, most importantly, prompts stop the page in front of you from being blank. It’s a win–win thing to do!

Readings

Only one reading today, and a short one at that. Caity read out her aforementioned memoir. The group noted that it was surprising how much you can get into so few words, and that it sounded almost poetical because of the short sentences.

Discussion

No workshop this month, which was just as well because we had an excellent topic of discussion brought to us by Greg. A friend of his had suggested he put a couple of paragraphs of one of his zombie apocalypse novels into an artificial intelligence (AI)12 chatbot13 to see what happened. The bot came back with text that Greg thought was great, but the question was what we thought about using AI in this way.

We discussed AI’s use as a source of inspiration, as a means of editing writing and as a means of generating writing, with particular reference to ethics.

Chatbot as inspiration

One member used it as a tool to generate characters and backstories for role-playing games, which we generally thought was acceptable. Writers have to take their inspiration where they can get it, so why not from a chatbot?

I asked two chatbots to give me a writing prompt. They both obliged.

ChatGPT14 by OpenAI15 gave me this scenario as a prompt:

In a small coastal town, a mysterious message written on a weathered piece of parchment washes ashore. The message holds a cryptic clue that leads a curious local resident on an unexpected adventure. Write a story about what happens next, exploring the hidden secrets of the town and the thrilling journey that unfolds.

ChatGPT by OpenAI in response to the instruction Give me a writing prompt

AI Chat16 by DeepAI17 came up with this:

Write a story about a character who wakes up one day with the ability to see into the future. At first, they are excited about their newfound gift, but soon they realize that knowing what’s to come can carry unexpected consequences. Explore how this power affects their everyday life, relationships, and their sense of free will.

AI Chat by DeepAI in response to the instruction Give me a writing prompt

The prompt by ChatGPT is the opening to a quest, whereas the prompt by AI Chat is more open-ended. However, the subject of AI Chat’s prompt is potentially more interesting because of the theme it introduces: do we have free will?

As stated above, different writers could take each of these prompts and come up with completely different stories, with different characters, locations, conclusions.

Chatbot as editor

We discussed whether using a chatbot to edit text we’ve already written is any different to another human editing it. As with a human editor, any suggestions that the chatbot comes up with can be accepted or dismissed by the author. But somehow, it didn’t seem as acceptable. We weren’t sure whether you’d (have to) state that it was edited by a chatbot or not, and we wondered what potential readers would think if they saw that in the acknowledgements, say; would they wonder how much you’d actually written, and view you or your writing negatively?

Chatbot as author

We considered using AI to write an essay for a course as fraudulent. Apparently, one chatbot can come up with a plausible essay, but the references are all made up; it might be harder to fix the references than it would be to write the essay oneself from scratch. Would it count as plagiarism? The course leader would surely be able to tell if the whole class had used a chatbot to write their essays. We agreed that we would be unlikely use AI to write a story and pass it off as our own.

Copyright

I’m not sure that anyone can claim copyright on a writing prompt; I asked the chatbots. They both agreed that writing prompts are ideas and therefore aren’t subject to copyright protection. Each came up with an exception.

ChatGPT suggested that the wording of the prompt had potential for copyright protection:

In general, writing prompts themselves are not typically subject to copyright protection. Copyright law primarily protects original works of authorship, such as literary, artistic, or creative expressions.

Writing prompts, on their own, are considered ideas or concepts rather than fixed creative works. They are often used as inspiration or starting points for writers to develop their own original content. As such, it is unlikely for someone to claim copyright solely on a specific writing prompt.

However, it’s important to note that the wording or presentation of a writing prompt could potentially be protected by copyright if it meets the originality requirements. For example, if a writing prompt is expressed in a highly unique or creative manner, it may be eligible for copyright protection as a creative expression.

ChatGPT by OpenAI in response to the question Can someone claim copyright on a particular writing prompt?

AI Chat focused on brand protection:

No, it is not possible to claim copyright on a writing prompt. Copyright law only applies to creative works that are fixed in a tangible medium, such as a book, a painting, or a song. Writing prompts are simply ideas or suggestions for writing, and do not qualify as creative works. However, it is possible to trademark a specific writing prompt if it is used as part of a branded writing-related service or product.

AI Chat by DeepAI in response to the question Can someone claim copyright on a particular writing prompt?

So, as long as you’re not regurgitating the prompt under specific circumstances, you’re ok to use any writing prompt as you see fit.

Chatbot as author

The question of copyright came up: who would own the copyright for text written by a chatbot? We weren’t sure, but we’ve since asked a couple of chatbots. The question posed to each chatbot was: Who owns the copyright for the fiction you write?

ChatGPT by OpenAI’s answer was fairly long-winded, but it concluded that:

the copyright for fiction generated by an AI language model is typically attributed to the human author or the entity that owns and operates the AI system. These entities may include the organization or research institution that developed and deployed the AI model.

ChatGPT by OpenAI in response to the question Who owns the copyright for the fiction you write?

with the advice to consult legal experts familiar with intellectual property law in your jurisdiction.

This is what AI Chat by DeepAI said:

As an AI language model, I am not capable of owning a copyright. The copyright for the essays I write would typically belong to the person or entity who commissioned the work or provided the instructions for it.

AI Chat by DeepAI in response to the question Who owns the copyright for the fiction you write?

So it looks like it wouldn’t necessarily be the person who asked it to write the text. Our advice would therefore be to forego using a chatbot to write your text if you want ownership of the copyright.

Chatbot as editor

I asked each of the two chatbots who owns the copyright on the text they edit. Again, ChatGPT’s answer was more verbose, and was rather murky:

As an AI language model, I don’t have the capability to claim copyright on the text I edit. The original copyright ownership of the text remains with the original author.

When I assist with editing text, the edited version is typically considered a derivative work, which may have its own level of copyright protection. However, since I am an AI developed by OpenAI, the organization behind ChatGPT, OpenAI retains any copyright or other intellectual property rights that may exist in the edits or contributions made by the AI model.

ChatGPT by OpenAI in response to the question Who owns the copyright on text you edit?

AI Chat’s answer was more clearcut:

As an AI language model, I do not possess the capability to own any copyrights or have any legal claims regarding the text I edit. The copyright of the text that I edit remains the property of its original author or owner unless they have explicitly transferred the copyright to someone else.

AI Chat by DeepAI in response to the question Who owns the copyright on text you edit?

It seems that if you do want to use a chatbot to edit text, you’re better off with AI Chat for copyright reasons. But, as ChatGPT again said, it’s probably best to get legal advice.

As an experiment, Caity’s memoir was given to both chatbots. Neither one produced a better version in our optinion, and one part was misunderstood by both, but in different ways. Perhaps this was Caity’s writing, but humans seem to understand it.

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What’s your take on using AI for writing?

Any other business

Artemis Writers present a free creative-writing workshop on breathing life into your characters from 6:30 to 8:30 pm on Monday 17 July in Prosper, where we hold our meetings, as shown in their poster below. Email artemiswritersuk@gmail.com to register your interest.

Next meeting

We next meet on 2 August. Hopefully, not everyone will be on holiday that week! Where will you be?

References

1. https://rosiejohnstonwrites.com/2023/07/05/churchill-writers-summer-retreat/
2. https://rosiejohnstonwrites.com/better-writing/churchill-writers/
3. Scribble chats: https://elywriters.pandammonium.org/scribble-chats/
4. https://www.chu.cam.ac.uk/churchill-review/
5. https://nanowrimo.org/
6. Andrew Dart 2023 The Blight. Independent Publishing Network 2023
7. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_100_(TV_series)
8. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battlestar_Galactica
9. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Seven_Basic_Plots
10. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Asphalt_concrete
11. https://www.facebook.com/ProsperCambs/
12. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Artificial_intelligence
13. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chatbot
14. https://chat.openai.com/
15. https://openai.com/
16. https://deepai.org/chat
17. https://deepai.org/