Are novelists who worry about the rise of AI really ‘classist and ableist’?

On the other hand … What does the future hold for AI? Photograph: sompong_tom/Getty Images/iStockphoto

Please spare a thought for artificial intelligence (AI). It may not have feelings yet but, if it did, it would feel devastated by all the nasty things people are saying about it. All it’s trying to do is take our jobs and potentially destroy the world and people can’t stop being mean.

Exhibit one: a recent controversy with the organisation that runs National Novel Writing Month (NaNoWriMo), a yearly challenge to produce a manuscript in a month. In a recent statement, NaNoWriMo wrote that it doesn’t explicitly support or condemn any approach to writing, “including the use of AI”. Further: “The categorical condemnation of artificial intelligence has classist and ableist undertones … questions around the use of AI tie to questions around privilege.”