Writing in a digital age

In a webinar, Professor Emerita Naomi Baron from American University discusses the research into digital technologies and writing, and shares insights from her newest book, Who Wrote This? How AI and the Lure of Efficiency Threaten Human Writing. Professor Baron is a former Guggenheim and Fulbright Fellow who has been researching the impact of digital technologies on the ways we read, write, speak, and think for more than 30 years.

Here are the key ideas from the webinar:

GPT stands for Generative Pre-trained Transformer, and it involves a particular approach to using algorithms coupled with a large language model base which works by using data to predict what the next word is likely to be. When Open AI launched ChatGPT on the 30^th of November 2022, their original intention was to gather data from users for future iterations of the tool. Within a week there were a million users, which grew to 100 million users within first two months, and the developers were shocked that so many people were interested in using the tool. Many iterations have launched since, and new developers have launched their own AI bots.

Writing is a skill that is an expression of who we are, and working hard at writing stretches our brains in positive ways, because the process of writing requires us to determine and be clear about what exactly we are talking about and what we want to say. Editing is an important component of the writing process, because it necessitates re-thinking. AI edits writing – spelling, grammar, and style-check programmes are all forms of AI. They date back to the 1970s and have become increasingly sophisticated over time, so that they now suggest re-writes rather than just corrections. However, this takes away the need for writers to think critically about their language choices while writing, and can cause us to lose trust in our own voices. Using AI tools when writing requires us to ask whether or not we want something of ourselves in our writing, and whether or not we want to retain some of the element of struggle in writing.

Research tells us that there is a difference in brain activity in children when they are manually shaping letters compared to when they are typing on a keyboard. A study involving university students writing in cursive also showed that different parts of the brain lit up, and that comprehension and memory were better than when writing on a keyboard.

It is enormously beneficial to ask students how they use generative AI for writing, and also how they feel about it. A study in 2022 involving 100 university students in the USA and another 100 in Europe asked students what they like best and least about writing by hand, and what they like best and least about writing on a full digital keyboard. The things they liked best about writing by hand were very similar to what secondary school students had responded about what they liked best about reading physical (as opposed to digital) books. They included tactile elements like the feeling of having a pen in their hand and ‘the reassuring feeling of control’. There were also emotional elements (they felt more attached to the content they produced by hand), and cognitive elements (they could concentrate better when writing). They also commented that handwriting felt more real and ‘the words seem to have more meaning.’ Handwriting gave them time to think, and they felt more connected to the words they wrote by hand.

Banning the use of generative AI tools is not effective. Instead, we need to learn how to use them productively. For example, having conversations about texts written, edited, or translated by generative AI and discussing the differences between what a human would create and what AI can create is highly valuable, although time-consuming. One of the best things teachers can do is collaborate with each other to share ideas and effective approaches. Here are some questions to ask and issues to think about in relation to writing and AI:

• How much effort do you want to put into your writing? It is not realistic or possible to give every task our full effort, so where do we want to expend more or less effort?
• Do you trust what AI writes? For example, it is well-known that bots can hallucinate.
• What impact will the use of tools like ChatGPT have on whether and how we develop our writing skills? If we are writing in our native language, using AI may mean that we are less likely to hone our writing skills, but for people writing in their non-native language, reviewing AI’s edits may support them to improve their writing in that language.
• What is our writing voice, and does AI compromise that voice?
• How much do we care about the quality of the piece of writing to which we attach our name? For example, is there a difference between a routine email and a piece of writing designed to help you explore or discover what you think? Not all the writing we do is crafted writing, but some of it should be – how do we ensure the craft is our own?

Here is a link to the Stanford Graduate School of Education project Naomi mentions in the webinar.