Audio Producer Jakob Wayson sits down with UT student writers and creatives to discuss the importance of authentic human creativity in our modern world of AI.

Recorded and produced by Jakob Wayson. Cover art by Samantha Jewell. Music by Blue Dot Sessions.     

*Intro music*

Jakob Wayson: In a world that is slowly dividing, a world where the use of AI is becoming more and more standard, where can the creative mind find a safe space to release its works?

I am Jakob Wayson, an audio producer for [The] Daily Texan, and today, my goal is to answer these questions and to find out the importance of these organizations for the creative mind within the current climate of our world. To do this, I have interviewed four students, three of whom are staffers of two separate writing organizations at UT, and one who has many experiences within creative writing at UT.

Let’s meet these creative minds.

Alright, what’s your name?

Aidan Springer: Uh, Aidan Springer.

Wayson: And do you have any, like, courses you’re in or any, um, groups, organizations?

Springer: Uh, yes, I’m currently in the, um, Advanced Fiction Workshop for, uh, the Creative Writing Certificate at UT. Um, I am also in Hothouse, uh, on the fiction board, so I work with them, and, uh, I’m also a part of, like, kind of vaguely like, I’ve been to meetings, um, with the Texas Creative.

What is your name?

Raina Zhang: I’m Raina.

Wayson: What is your position in the literary team for Apricity?

Zhang: Oh, I’m the literary editor.

Wayson: Okay.

Zhang: And so, like, what that means is, I manage a team of like 10 literary readers, and it’s totally student-run, um, and I manage like all of the literary submissions, um, so that includes like poetry or prose and stuff like that.

Wyason: What are y’all’s names?

Sadie Wilson: Sadie Wilson.

Wayson: Alright.

Jana Nguyen: Jana Nguyen.

Wayson: Both Sadie Wilson and Jana Nguyen are members of Hothouse. 

Before I get into this question, do y’all want to explain what the Hothouse is?

Nguyen: Yes!

Wilson: You can do it.

Nguyen: Okay, Hothouse is the official literary journal of the English Department here at UT. We are, fully like, funded and supported by the English Department. We publish Texas undergraduate work, so not just UT undergraduates, all across Texas, and creative works and fiction, poetry, and creative nonfiction.

Wayson: Firstly, I began with the questions about the ever-increasing use of AI. As of recently, AI has become more and more utilized to take over creative processes. Is it important that creative writing be done by humans instead of artificial intelligence? These were their responses.

Springer: I, I would say absolutely it is. And my, my main reason for that is that AI and, like, generative language models, where they are now, um, can’t really produce like unique ways of thinking about things, and that’s a really important part of, uh, fiction and about writing in general is looking at it from different angles and bringing your own experience into it. And you’ll see this a lot when you have AI creating stories, is they’re really general, right? It kind of like alludes to feelings, um, or it’ll use words like always and never, which we’re taught not to do.

Wayson: Aidan says that AI does not have the experiences or the ability for proper thinking patterns, which are required for the writing of creative works. It doesn’t have the feelings to create the art that a human mind could create.

Zhang: Oh, absolutely. Yeah, I mean, I can kind of like go into Apricity Magazine. Because of the wide variety of art that we get, in like all different forms, it makes, like, the, you know, like the rise of AI even more, I guess, like, like looming over us, right? Like, there are so many AI videos that are being generated, or “AI art”, right, in quotations, um, and then obviously like all the terrible like AI writing. And last year, we had to add a new clause that was like, we don’t allow AI submissions, and just having to do that was a little bit heartbreaking to me, because it was like, wow, like this is where, you know, we’re getting now, where we have to clarify that we don’t want AI to be used in this process that supposed to be, like, celebrating art and creativity.

Wayson: New rules are having to be added to prohibit the use of AI in the world of creative writing, showing that it is affecting both how these organizations work and the submissions they receive.

Wilson: I feel like, creativity is something that comes from a human mind rather than like, uh, a little box of—whatever. 

Nguyen: Creative writing’s all about ideas, and, like, telling a story that you have within you, and if you don’t have that story, then there’s nothing for you to tell.

Wayson: That little box creating stories leads directly into the next question which I asked these creative minds. Is it important to preserve the humanity that comes with the creative process?

Springer: I, I would say absolutely, because, I, I mean, it goes back to the idea of like, what is the purpose of using AI to create something, right? And it’s, generally towards profit, right? Which I think goes against the entire purpose of art and of the creative process, which is, is to, um, you know, explore issues and hold space for things.

Zhang: Like, I feel like the joy in the creative process is, like, struggling, you know what I mean? And I feel like AI is just kind of cheating that, like, and I feel like, a lot of the times, like, the best creative ideas come out of like, you know, toil and, you know, working really hard to get your specific vision.

Nguyen: Writing is just so, like, it’s an expression of human ideas through language, and, and the fact that that language comes from us, it’s like, it shows a consideration of like words and thoughts and the arrangement of words on paper to then like share with others.

Wayson: Writing is something created from the struggles and the thoughts of the human mind. It is a celebration of human creativity, and to commodify it would go against this celebration. With that being said, hosting a place for creatives to create, submit, and celebrate their art is a very important thing, especially within the current political climate, with the world being seemingly more divisive than ever. So, I asked these writers why it is important to them that writers have a proper outlet to release their art or writing, given the current political climate of the world.

Springer: I mean, there’s the, the reason for the writers, which is, your work is never going to grow in a vacuum. Um, you have to like, get it out there, and get feedback, and talk to other people. The point is kind of having these experiences, and, um, it’s, it’s probably not the best system to walk around and go, like on Speedway and go, here’s my short story, can you read it?

Wayson: As Aidan said, writers being given this place where they can go and grow their skill sets and share their words with willing listeners is very important to the creative minds and for the future of these writers.

Zhang: It’s a huge, like, kind of, like, focus on, um, like creating value, right? In like a tangible, monetary sense, and like, usually you might think of like, you know, an engineer when you think that, or you think of like a computer scientist or stuff like that, and I feel like, in comparison to, like, these like, STEM disciplines, like creative aspects are often overlooked, or like, devalued, right? By maintaining this space for writers or artists to be able to communicate their ideas, we’re kind of also having them acknowledge that they have value, too, right?

Wayson: Preserving and promoting the value in the arts is something extremely important that these outlets provide to aspiring writers and artists from all backgrounds.

Wilson: We take in submissions from people from every major, so not only are we getting the English majors and the Creative Writing majors, we’re giving an outlet to STEM majors and Linguistic majors. 

Nguyen: So important.

Wilson: Like, we’re getting challenged on our First Amendment right of freedom of speech, you know the whole higher education compact that the Trump administration offered UT, like just limiting how people express their opinions on certain ideas, or just like, an expression of identity, um, so like, it’s super important that like any means of expression, is, like we’re doing our best to preserve that.

Wayson: The preservation of arts and expression is vital for not just us as people, but us as a society. Having these places to be able to freely express the stories of the people is important to our society, and is especially important in our current political climate, which leads directly to the next question I had for these writers. Do you have any concerns about the future of art and literature within the campus and within the general world?

Springer: I am generally worried in a world where you see kind of an increase in book bans and that sort of movement, but, in terms of the campus, and the spaces that I’ve interacted with have usually been pretty open. I haven’t noticed anything, like, incredibly harsh, um, I don’t think they’re going after undergrad writers just yet. Um, but, yeah, I wouldn’t say that it is entirely safe either.

Wayson: Raina had more to say about her feelings on the direction the campus is going, stating…

Zhang: I feel like, UT campus is going in a kind of like a scarier direction, especially after that compact, you know, that, um, like Donald Trump—But I, I just feel like with that, there’s like more of an emphasis on STEM, again, like like I was talking about earlier, um, and so, I’m worried again, that like this trend of like minimizing you know like liberal arts or more creative studies is going to just continue.

Wayson: Sadie and Jana had something similar to say.

Wilson: People think that the liberal arts section is not important— 

Nguyen: Yeah.

Wilson: —because we’re not doing as much, we’re not discovering things, we’re not creating things. But, take out literature from everything, and you have nothing.

*Music*

Wayson: This statement highlights one way in which the importance of literature is truly evident in the modern day, and the many reasons why it needs to be protected, which is what organizations contribute to: a safe space for creatives, for artists to share their works. However, the importance of creating art is different for everybody, whether it be different motivations or different meanings behind it. I asked these creatives about the importance, to them personally, of creating art in the modern day.

Springer: I think that what fiction can really do is, um, as Riva Lehrer would put it, uh hold space for those issues, right? It’s not about um, having, like, a strong, um moral or like point you’re making in your fiction. It’s about just, here are people’s lives and here’s how they’re affected, and that allows other people to then empathize and connect with other experiences that aren’t their own.

Zhang: Most people should have some sort of creative outlet or some way of, like, expressing their emotions or their thoughts through art, um, and I think it’s, that’s like a really important way of just like enjoying life.

Nguyen: Yes expression, but also expression as a means to connect with others. you know. Like when we make art, and we share art, it’s because we are putting ourselves into it, um, and we want to, we’re showing it to other people. We hope that they see this and they have some sort of reaction to it in any kind of way that they feel.

*Music*

Wayson: Which is what it’s all about. Having an outlet to release art is something to enjoy, something to share and connect with others on. An organization for both art and writing is a place to find like-minded people to share your works with and learn new things along the ride. The arts bring joy to life, and these outlets allow for the exhibition of this. Nowadays, especially, in a world so divisive, a world where telling the difference between human and machine is harder than ever, human expression, whether it be through writing and art, is one thing that can be celebrated by all, one thing that could never be replicated by machines. To celebrate this, I asked these four amazing people what their favorite stories were.

Springer: I’m going to give an answer that I normally wouldn’t give and go with um, Becky Chambers, ‘A Psalm for the Wild-Built’. Uh, but it’s just cozy, it’s about this nonbinary tea monk who’s trying to find meaning in life, and like the dedication, um, is to anyone who needs a break, right, in the book.

Wilson: Like, my general, like English major answer, because—or like, I guess non-English major answer when people ask me is like ‘Pride and Prejudice.’

Nguyen: Well, I mean, one that immediately comes to mind is ‘Wild Geese’ by Mary Oliver. That’s an awesome poem and I think everyone should read that.

Zhang: Like, most recently, I read, like, finally, like ‘The Perks of Being a Wallflower’—

Wayson: Oh it’s so good.

Zhang: —I was so behind, and then I finally read it, and I really liked it. I think I read it on the plane, and I was like crying on the plane, I was like oh my god.

Wayson: Human creation, human expression, and human art are some of the most important things that we, as a society, have. Thank you for listening. 

*Outro music*

Wayson: This has been a production for The Daily Texan Audio Department. Reported and edited by me, Jakob Wayson.