STEVENS POINT, Wis. (WJFW) – Writing books can be challenging for some people, but that’s normally part of the fun. But some like to skip the challenging parts and use AI to write their novels for them.
Artificial Intelligence relies on pulling information from across the internet to make something; whether it be a book or a picture. The Cornerstone Press is a publishing group at the U.W. Stevens Point.
Ross Tangedal, the Director of Cornerstone Press, said that the group doesn’t allow generative AI.
“So our official policy is that we do not endorse AI in any way, therefore we do not accept any material from authors or from folks that are sending in materials to us that have been generated using AI,” Tangedal said. “And, on top of that, within our press operations we do not generate any cover art using AI.”
Copyright issues aren’t the only reason that the group has banned generative AI. The Press believe that allowing AI could make students lazy and harm the publishing industry.
“We believe fully that the use of AI in these contexts is detrimental to both student growth and to the growth of the industry that is book publishing, therefore we are vehemently against the use of AI,” Tangedal said.
To use generative AI to write something, all someone would need is a prompt and it will do the rest.
“Generative AI is the biggest problem, I would say,” Tangedal added, “So, again, putting in a prompt and it generates a chapter or an essay or a story.”
The Cornerstone Press said that standard grammar assistants are still allowed for their students.
“Of course when you use Microsoft Word, there’s tracked changes, it suggests different edits,” Tangedal said. “Of course as a human being, editing the manuscript you can use those different materials.”
There are a few ways to tell if something is made by generative AI. Tangedal says that it normally feels unnatural.
“Generative AI can’t feel and so if generative AI can’t feel human emotions, how can it necessarily write human emotions?” Tangedal added, “And so when you read a piece that is generated by AI and you read a piece that is generated by a human being, human emotion comes out when you read it and you can sense it, you can feel it.”
