I have a confession to make. Last Monday I opened up my internet explorer. Searched for ChatGPT and typed ‘Write a blog on thin places and the bible’. I copied. Pasted. Sent it to B to go up on our community blog.  

So, how do you feel about that? Did you read it? Did you like it? Does this new piece of information change your perception of that blog?  

I didn’t do it to trick you.  

Though I accept you may feel tricked. And I am sorry for that. If you are feeling particularly annoyed or hurt, please forgive me in time and speak to me so I can seek to make amends with you.   

I was always planned to make this confession because this is my real blog. I wanted to write a reflection piece on what it was like to just use ChatGPT for something that normally takes a good chunk of time and personal investment. Would it be freeing? Would it be a disaster?  

A week has gone by since the blog went up and below are my reflections for how using ChatGPT to write it impacted me. I think I might steal a tactic from ChatGPT and do this under various headings. I can assure you though, the following has been produced by my more limited intelligence.  

Done and Dusted.  

It took under 5 minutes for me to get the blog, check it over for heresy, copy and paste it and send it to B. That really is quite incredible. I’d wager it took B longer to put it up on the site (maybe not though!). I normally spend several hours thinking about a topic, chewing over ideas, writing and editing a blog. This one was done and dusted without taking time or occupying my mind. Wow! I really could just move onto the next task on my to-do list. Certainly reduced my workload.  

Originality.  

When I read over it though, I immediately noticed that the blog did not sound like me at all. Not my northern tones but my style. It was too formal. Too factual. Too encyclopedia.  ‘The Bible is replete with references…’ What? Replete? What does that even mean? I’d never write that as the start of sentence. The grammar and spellings were all correct. No way, this couldn’t have been written by me, and indeed wasn’t. The blog, I believe, holds substance but it severely lacks style. It all sounds a bit…robotic.  

Guilt.  

As the blog went up though and some people liked it or commented on it, I started to feel an ever growing guilt. My name on a piece of work I didn’t do. Not only that, but people believed this was me and were appreciative of it. Getting praise or thanks for work not done, it turns out, is not very fun at all. There was a voice at the back of my head telling me I was a fraud.  

Lack.  

A fraud. It turns out that what ChatGPT produced was good. Clear, concise content. Enlightening in places, making connections I hadn’t considered before. Some others found this too. A feeling of lack rose in my mind. Why is that a computer program can write a good blog faster than me…much faster.  Maybe I’m not very good at this and should just give up? Maybe ChatGPT can take over my blogging duties? Sure, what would be lost anyway? Maybe it turns out my usual style is unreadable and having correct grammar and spellings is important.  (I agree! After spending a lot more time editing this than the ChatGPT one 😉 – B)

Indifference.  

While guilt and lack wound their way around my mind from time to time, the overwhelming feeling I had was indifference. The blog produce may have been good but I…I just didn’t really care. My normal blog writing duties are times when I learn intensely about a certain topic or idea. They are times I love. When I wrote my Radiohead blog I listened to them, and only them, for a month. When I wrote on difficult Old Testament passages for beyond the pale I devoured books by some of the world’s greatest scriptural scholars and learnt so much. This time? I’ve learnt nothing about thin places and the Bible. I literally could not tell you one idea from last weeks blog right now. Nope, nothing…not one.   

From me this is the real crux of the matter. When I write blogs I actually don’t write them to dispense ideas or wisdom from within me (they would be very short blogs!). Rather, I learn so much in the process and find so much joy in playing around with ideas and words. ChatGPT saved me a lot of time, but I think I lost more in the process. It’s like it’s the teamaster of blog writing. It may take out the misery of blog writing but maybe I like the misery.  

In the words of Grian Chatten ‘Bring your own two cents, Never borrow them from someone else’. I suppose that includes AI.  

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