From pencils to AI, how writing and tech always go hand in hand
By: Jordan
Love stories written in the span of seconds. First drafts generated to dust off the cob webs. Ad copy, conversations, search engine queries — all at your fingertips and increasingly reliable. Tools like OpenAI’s ChatGPT and Google’s Bard have already started to change the world of writing as we know it.
While I have yet to use generative AI for writing, the flurry of excitement comes as no surprise. Writing and technology have been in a long-term relationship since the written word was invented (around 3,400 B.C.), evolving together. The way we write has even changed since I graduated college with my English degree years ago — from co-writing in Google docs to installing Grammarly extensions for email. The tools we have to write faster and more intuitively are expanding rapidly before our eyes.
The curiosity around generative AI — and how it will impact writing moving forward — reminds me of an essay I read in college, “From Pencils to Pixels: The Stages of Literacy Technology” by Dennis Baron. (Please brace for serious nerding out.)
The article is as academic as it sounds, but it did leave me with a powerful takeaway: writing isn’t just shaped by technology, it is technology.
As Baron put it: “When we write with cutting-edge tools, it is easy to forget that whether it consists of energized particles on a screen or ink embedded in paper or lines gouged into clay tablets, writing itself is always first and foremost a technology, a way of engineering materials in order to accomplish an end.”
Think about it: we may tell the same story differently if we write it on a Post-It note versus sharing a text-to-speech voice memo or a series of emojis. The more tools we have to write, the more our storytelling diversifies — and each time a new tool arrives, we cycle through similar phases: early enthusiasm or skepticism, adoption and use case discovery, and scaling to the masses. Today, we’re at the beginning of the cycle with generative AI and on the cusp of an industry-changing shift.
Let’s take a quick look back to understand how the new wave of generative AI may ebb, flow, and break.
The written word: once ground-breaking
Writing was once a controversial technology. Plato, one of the world’s most famous thinkers, argued against writing, saying that writing down our (oral) stories would weaken people’s memories. Thankfully, the written word persisted and perhaps freed up the brain power for more creativity, storytelling, and invention (hello, printing press).
Pencils as next-gen tech
Yes, the pencil was once considered an innovation! As Baron put it, “pencil-making processes were from the outset proprietary secrets as closely guarded as any Macintosh code.” And just like generative AI wasn’t invented solely for writing, the pencil was originally created to mark off measurements. Only later did it become a staple for writing, doodling, erasing, and showing off in elementary school (shout out to the Smencil).
Computers and word processors change the game
When you need to write fast, do you pick up a legal pad or open your laptop? Be honest. For me, the effort of handwriting, crossing things out, using white-out, writing in the margins, and drawing arrows is painfully inefficient. When I need to meet a deadline, nothing beats quickly typing on a keyboard and easily editing in a Google doc (copy/paste is transformative!). Word processors have changed how we share, review, and revise writing — even the idea of relying on a typewriter (just a few decades ago) is now archaic!
The next wave: generative AI
Generative AI solutions like GPT-4 may be the next frontier for writing technology. People are already using it to generate essay ideas, create outlines, find sources, and write first drafts. While credit and quality are still getting ironed out, it will be interesting to see how this tool adds efficiency and frees up writers to be even more creative in their work. It’s key to remember that generative AI is still in its early stages, and its full potential is still crystallizing.
As Baron writes, “As costs decrease and the technology becomes better able to mimic more ordinary or familiar communications, a new literacy spreads across a population. Only then does the technology come into its own, no longer imitating the previous forms given us by the earlier communications technology but creating new forms and new possibilities for communication.”
As technology evolves the way we write and consume stories, there’s one thing we can bet on: inspiration will always come from the heart. Storytelling is not only human nature, but a human need — and we’re writing this next chapter together.