Have we seen this movie before?

Authorship has always evolved. Once it was revolutionary to revise your work. Then to research from books instead of the field. Then to Google instead of libraries. We didn’t stop being writers when we switched from ink to keyboards, or through any of the shifts along the way. AI is just the next frontier, maybe the biggest one in our lifetime, but it’s part of a long continuum, not a break from it.

How does AI fit into a collaborative creative process?

Sometimes I sit down knowing the emotional point of a scene, and that I want to start with a flashback. Don’t know what the flashback is yet though. I use AI to brainstorm. It’s like a lightning-fast, very eager intern who doesn’t mind being rejected. But deciding to start with a flashback, then linking it to a tiny visual detail from the chapter before, that’s still magic from little old humans.

What happens to voice when AI starts suggesting the next sentence?

AI still struggles with voice. Hands you something correct but hollow, a lot of the time. Brilliant for breaking a blank page but making a reader actually feel something? Not quite yet. Yet being the operative word, because the pace of innovation is mind-blowing and emotive storytelling may not be out of reach for long.

What’s an idea worth when AI can generate thousands?

We live in an era of infinite ideas. But I come from Israeli startup culture, where ideas are cheap because everyone has one, including your taxi driver. What matters isn’t the idea, it’s what you do with it. As The Social Network puts it, if you were the inventor of Facebook, you would have invented Facebook. JK Rowling wasn’t the only one with a story about a boy wizard. She wrote it first, wrote it well, and put it out there. Sorry if that sounds brutal.

When it comes to research, where does speed cut depth?

Fast research feels like having a tireless assistant riding the high of an all-nighter and a million Red Bulls. Want a legal case summarized in seconds? No problem. But the danger isn’t shallow research on the subject matter. It’s a shallow connection for the writer. When shortcuts get too easy we risk skipping the long winding paths that build emotional investment. That’s the part the reader actually feels, even if they only see the tip of the iceberg. Depth isn’t just in the facts you gather, it’s in how much you care while gathering them. Read my piece about Jodi Picoult that touches this subject.

How can AI help busy people find time to write?

Probably the most personal reason I’ve come to value AI. I’m a mother of 4 under 7, full-time job as a tech exec. I hate not finishing things I start. Writing, in that context, can feel like a project that haunts me at night. AI helps me move faster and fire on some cylinders when I need momentum. It doesn’t write for me, but it helps me start and keep moving, because it increases my chance of finishing. Plays at odds with point 5 sometimes, but I think it’s a balance worth pursuing.

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