Dear chatbot, please write a 1000-word essay about Alison McGhee’s novel What I Leave Behind, including the themes of the novel and the themes of her work in general. Note voice, style, tone, and anything that makes this novel unique. This was the assignment I gave to a chatbot a few months ago (and yes, I did say “Dear chatbot” and “please.” Because I’m polite.). The essay was finished in seconds. It was good, for the most part, articulate and careful and full of tender references to the narrator Will’s love and care for his little brother.

But no little brother exists in my novel. A crucial fact which no one who hadn’t read it would ever know.

We speed along, faster and faster and faster and faster, saving and saving and saving time. So much time saved. And so much lost along the way.

For a Student Who Used AI to Write a Paper, by Joseph Fasano

Now I let it fall back
in the grasses.
I hear you. I know
this life is hard now.
I know your days are precious
on this earth.
But what are you trying
to be free of?
The living? The miraculous
task of it?
Love is for the ones who love the work.

Click here for more information about Joseph Fasano.

alisonmcghee.com
My podcast: Words by Winter