The introduction of AI to the writing process will likely redefine the boundaries of human creativity. Just as photography liberated painting from the burden of hyperrealism, AI may push storytelling into abstract, eccentric, and deeply human niches that machines cannot emulate.
Before photography, painting served both an artistic and functional purpose—it was the only way to capture reality. The advent of photography transformed painting, allowing artists to focus on emotions, impressions, and abstraction rather than mere replication. Movements like Cubism, Surrealism, and Abstract Expressionism emerged, exploring realms that photography couldn’t touch: the inner workings of the mind, the essence of a moment, and the emotional resonance of color and form.
Similarly, AI’s ability to analyze vast datasets and generate stories optimized for structure and engagement might take over the “functional” side of storytelling—producing formulaic, mass-market content. But this will challenge human storytellers to venture into the unknown, crafting tales that are abstract, obscure, and profoundly original—stories that defy data-driven predictability.
Human creativity will be forced to focus on the unique and untrainable: deeply personal experiences, raw emotions, and avant-garde ideas. Just as abstract art arose from the freedom photography provided, storytelling might evolve to embrace the surreal, experimental, and profoundly human.
The result? A renaissance of storytelling that takes us to places no AI can go, because the datasets it trains on will always be rooted in the past, while human imagination is limitless and forward-looking.
What do you think—will AI free human creativity to explore uncharted territories, or will it challenge us to redefine what it means to tell a story?
(Unironically co-written with AI)
Khadim Zaman's Blog 