Can Machine Learn to Write Academic Papers Instead of Students in The Future?

Would you believe us if we told you that the sentence you're currently reading was written by an AI-driven writing machine? Sounds unbelievable, doesn't it? Well, in today's world of Flippy the burger-flipping robot and flying cars (well, we're almost there), just about anything is possible.

In February 2017, 28-year old Dong Kim, one of the world's greatest poker players, sat at a casino to play against a machine for twenty straight days. Just like every other person in the room, he was confident that he would floor his opponent. However, Libratus – the AI machine – floored Kim and three other top players.

But how feasible is this theory? Let's find out.

Reading the Handwriting on the Wall: AI's Role in Writing

Over the years, a number of books and creative pieces have been written with the help of machine learning. For instance, Dinner Depression by Julia Joy Raffel was developed completely from machine learning.

So how does AI technology pull off this seemingly incredible feat? Well, the most popular way seems to be the Natural Language Generation (NLG).

NLG is a rather seamless software process that utilizes cloud computing to manufacture written narratives from data. In simpler terms, it takes data and transforms it into a human-sounding written narrative.

Apart from the use of NLG in creative writing, another way through which AI has been integrated into the writing industry is via predictive text. If you've ever had a predictive text generator fill out certain blanks for you when writing an essay, then you've had a slight taste of the AI's role in writing.

Benefits of Using Machine Learning to Write Academic Papers

Although AI has not yet been fully accepted by the global writing community, there are several perks that come with the concept of AI writing. For starters, let's take a quick look at the intricacies involved in writing an essay or academic paper.

"Writing is a hellish task, best snuck up on, whacked on the head, robbed and left for dead."

This famous quote by Ann-Marie MacDonald, the author of The Way the Crow Flies, gives us an insight into how difficult and time-consuming writing can seem for both professional writers and college students. For instance, a 600-word essay may take between two to five hours to write, depending on how simple or complex it is.

However, AI can help you get more work done in significantly less time. It also eliminates the stress that comes with researching, collating, and transforming data into narratives. As such, many modern organizations are now utilizing AI in content creation. For example, The Washington Post has been experimenting with automated journalism with the use of a bot that analyzes data and then puts together news stories.

The Dismal Side of AI Writing

Inasmuch as there are several benefits to using machine learning in writing, it's important to note that AI-generated writing lacks one important feature: the human touch. Since writing bots carry out functions based on the grammatical rules they are programmed with, they do not leave room for creativity and poetic license.

Although AI technology churns out grammatically correct, informative pieces, the finished work is often bland and lacks the extra spice and creativity that you'd get from a piece written by a human writer.

Will Machines Write Academic Papers Instead Of Students In The Future?

Although AI writers can mimic human intelligence and transform data into narrative with the speed of light, they lack the creativity, inspiration, and emotions that you can get from a student. Robots will always be robotic and as such, will continue to churn out mechanical, stilted pieces.

Storytelling is an art reserved solely for humans and unless the technological industry experiences a dramatic shift, it may take years before AI learns to imitate this aspect of human intelligence.

As of this writing art and skill, the human imagination and creativity is an integral part that can never be replaced. Remember how you once began an essay with a childhood experience? An AI writer will definitely not be able to pull off that imaginative skill. After all, robots may have a voice, but they have no soul.

The Bottom Line

In today's world, tools like Microsoft Word AI predictive text can help students churn out better writing. However, many experts believe that machine learning can not substitute for the human touch. With human writers, subtlety, creativity, and strong emotional bonds are formed with the reader. At best, AI writers can only serve as collaborative tools for students who want to improve their writing.

Amanda Dudley – Author's Bio