My biggest argument was for human accountability. While technology isn't perfect, if you educate yourself, a piece of technology will almost always operate within the parameters it was designed to operate in. In terms of research, ChatGPT, like Wikipedia, shouldn't be your only research point.
This point is actually a big reason why I give AI grace in the research area. While there was holes in the programming a couple of years ago, I've learned from using AI in my professional life, you have to be incredibly specific with your prompts. There will always a level of hallucination as it has to synthesize piles of data into an easily digestible paragraph.
And with LLM writers, I'm learning a lot about them in my day job. The way people portray it confuses me. The portrayals basically paint AI as this terrifying anthropomorphic beast ready to gobble up IP, and with a few keystrokes, someone could steal someone's unpublished manuscript out from under them. The imagery is terrifying.
But while people can cry about how scary it is that LLMs are "stealing" work, they have no problem selling their fan art, bragging about how XYZ piece of media inspired their work, and even using other people's work as marketing points to promote their own work. It's a double standard, essentially when one is a glorified predict text.
I am going to be frank and admit that the big reason why the topic of AI and writing always bothers is me is that writers can be HUGE BULLIES. Ever since I've joined the online writers' community, I've been bullied for everything from my word count, to my characters' ages, my genres, my writing style, and more. It's super demotivating to try and figure out how to write your novel when you've got people telling you that "you can't write without an outline" "you gotta outline" "you gotta have a plan" "you gotta reverse outline" yadda yadda yadda. I've spent countless frustrated hours over the years trying to figure out how to write a novel manually. I can't do it. The bullying gets so bad that some writers have had their work review-bombed, hurting their livelihoods on stories bullies suspect was done with AI (even stuff published 5+ years ago.)
My novel-writing game has changed IMMENSELY now that I have an accessibility tool. I am still physically doing the work, and my writing still has "soul". I didn't physically lose my ability to make creative decisions. I have a piece of tech to help my brain work better.
People will use LLMs to do unethical things and definitely use LLMs for easy cash grabs since we're in a capitalist system. But the users are still responsible for their outcomes.
