The Robots Are Coming

I'm very happy to have picked up some good reviews for my debut YA fantasy thriller Daughter of Kali: Awakening this month. You can read one of them on the super blog SciFiAndScary.com (there's a link right here). It's a great feeling when a reviewer likes what you've written, because after all it's the sum of months, if not years, of hard work and emotion.

It made me think; can writing ever be replaced by Artificial Intelligence? For that matter, could AI replace the need for authors at all?

A study last year by the Mckinsey Global Institute of 800 occupations across 46 countries found that by 2030, 800 million people will lose their jobs to automation. That's a fifth of the global workforce. And one of the jobs that could be under threat is mine.  

Meet Erica.

Image from Adweek.com

She's a TV anchor for a Japanese news network, and was developed by the Intelligent Robotics Laboratory at Osaka University. Apparently, she has multilingual skills and can work non-stop. I bet her hair and make-up costs are pretty low too.  And she probably doesn't complain about the state of the ladies' toilets like I do. I can see why her new employers are pleased.

But surely, I reason, writing a work of fiction is different to reading the news? And there at least I can take some comfort. Because writing, particularly fantasy and sci-fi,  requires creativity, an active imagination and a flair for disregarding the laws of physics. And indeed, most experts agree the jobs that fall into the 'creative' zone will be safe from automation; i.e. artists, musicians, writers. 

Alarm bells did ring for me when I read that a robot had managed to dash off a credible science fiction dystopian novel by scanning and studying science magazines from the last fifty years. Even worse, an AI-written novel made it past the first round of a literary competition in Japan. But then I read how much extra 'help' went into these endeavours. Programmers had to input masses of data on plot, character descriptions and gender, and even prepare sentences which the computer used to 'write' the book. 

So I think we writers and bloggers are safe for the minute. 

If you're in the US do enter the Goodreads competition for a free e-book copy of Daughter of Kali: Awakening by clicking here. And if you like reading fantasy, si-fi and horror, do check out my blog list (on the desktop version); there are some great book bloggers out there. 

Until the robots take over, stay safe

Celebrating September

I love September. I'm not sure why; maybe it's because this is the month of my birth. I was named after a flower that blossoms this time of year in India, the night-blooming jasmine known as 'Shiuli'.  

Round about now I start to look back at what I've achieved over the year, and look forward to what I still need or want to do. It's also the time of year when I've made some life-changing decisions. It's the month I moved to Qatar to launch Aljazeera back in 2006. It's also the month I handed in my notice nine years later. It's the month I met my husband-to-be in London 21 years ago, though neither of us knew then where it would lead. It was another four months before he managed to ask me out on a date.

September is the month when the first book was published on a printing press in 1452. No prizes for guessing what it was. (The Bible).

Some of my favourite authors were born in September; Roald Dahl, Stephen King, H.G. Wells. And it's also the month, three years ago, when I finished the first draft of my debut Young Adult novel, Daughter of Kali: Awakening.

Needless to say, the first draft wasn't the last by a long shot! It needed a lot of polishing. But it's now coming up to the four-month anniversary of its publication date by the wonderful Peach Publishing.

To celebrate, we've launched a September Giveaway on Goodreads. Free kindle copies are available to 100 US readers who enter my giveaway here at www.goodreads.com between now and September 30th.

To make up for the fact that UK readers can't currently enter the Goodreads Giveaway, I have a special offer just for them. I have two paperback copies which I will sign and post to you anywhere in the UK. To enter, go to my website www.shiulieghosh.com and send me your email address through my 'contacts' form. I will pick two names at random. Closing date September 30th.

Good luck. Good reading. And have a good September.