I'm not going to dwell upon the debates and controversies of AI (Artifical Intelligence) here. What I am going to do it simply describe how and why I use AI during my writing process.
AI ART
When I start a new book I often generate AI images for the characters and settings so that I have a reference while writing. These have saved me no end of time in terms of description. The reader may never see these images (unless they read my blog) but they are a very valuable addition to my writing process. Before the advent of AI I had to scour the Internet for images, usually from movies, to have a frame of reference. Those movies can still be used as a reference in the AI so that it's easier to get the look you want. Below is an image of the protagonist of one of the two books I'm currently working on.
I switch between about four AI art image generators, all of them free (but with daily limits). My favourite is Tengr.ai
AI CHATBOT
AI chat has become a lifeline in my writing. I have it open all the time, constantly asking it weird questions, most research-based but sometimes questions about words too (I have a terrible memory for words). You can ask it veyr specific things about the real world, for example how a person of middle-income means would travel from Stockholm to London in 1923 showing the whole route they would take (it's about 3 days by various trains and ferries, in case you were wondering).
The AI chat can also be used to generate ideas for such things as names for the time and setting of your work of fiction. You can really ask it anything. Before I began using AI chatbots I had to use an Internet search engine and it took a lot longer to find the information. In essence, an AI chatbot does that work for you and then provides the information in an organised manner.
I use the free AI chatbots, but the daily limits on them have grown stricter so I now switch between three of them - Copilot, Gemini, and ChatGPT, with the latter being my favourite.
CONCLUSION
Other than Grammarly, which I run over a completed manuscript to catch any clear typos and grammar issues, I've also toyed around with other AI, such as voice, music and video, but most of that is distracting and can keep me from writing. I do have an interest in possibly cloning and enhancing my own voice for audiobooks in the future using AI, as well as looking into AI for translating my books fluently into foreign languages, but for now I am content with the wonders of an AI chatbot assistant and some inspiring reference images.
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