Thinking is a sport, not a chore: Why children’s literature creators will win the war against AI

Disclaimer: The following text is entirely human-authored. No “outside” help was sought to outline the piece. Editing was not outsourced to a “foreign hand”. Research was strictly restricted to gossip, Google and good ol’ social media skulking. Synonyms were deployed the old-fashioned way (many thanks, Roget’s International Thesaurus). Sentences were completed unassisted. Deadline was missed by a mile. Slap on that “100% unaided by AI” sticker already.

With that out of the way, let’s get started on the much-dreaded, oft-debated, forever-relevant subject of AI.

My first brush with it? Many, many decades ago. In the presence of a responsible adult. For a short story.

“AIEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE!!!!!” went a particularly excitable character from the aforementioned work of fiction.

I fondly remember my English teacher’s remarks lovingly scribbled in the margins: “Way too many exclamation marks”, “Couldn’t figure out the rest. Would’ve been easier to read hieroglyphics”, and “Save doodles for art class”. Moral of the story? Using AI in creative writing does not lead to gold star glory.

Cut to the present.

For the longest time, I thought Gemini was a star sign. And when people claimed they were “into Gemini big time”, naturally, I assumed they were gushing about their affinity for folk born in the third sign of the zodiac. As for Claude,...

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