Sci-fi publishers are already dealing with AI-generated work. As a sci-fi writer, does that give you pause?

I think that these are inevitable developments, but how we use them and approach them is what's not inevitable. We could be optimistic and hopeful and creative with these tools, or we can pull our hair out and be upset and stressed out about them. That's what we can choose, and I'm going to choose to be excited about something that we've created together, cumulatively, because [generative AI tools are] basically based on all of our writing together, even people who don't think of themselves as writers. It's learned from you.

A lot of people are afraid that AI will take their jobs. As an author, is there a part of you that’s like, “Well, to tell something to write a book in the style of Hugh Howey, it still has to know the work of Hugh Howey”?

The reason I'm not scared is that when I got into writing, I never thought I'd make a living at it. I worked in a bookstore while I was trying to make it as a writer, and every week, thousands and thousands of books would come out. We couldn’t even order all of them for our bookstore. We'd go through catalogs this thick and only order 20 from one publisher and 20 from another publisher.

The idea that there was no competition and if I just wrote a book, I could make a living—that’s absurd. Almost none of us should have a career as writers, and the fact that we do is a blessing. The reason I got into writing is because I love telling stories, and just because an AI will do it better than me doesn't mean I'm not going to enjoy it. I love playing chess, but a computer will beat me 100 out of 100 times at chess. That doesn't mean I don't want to play it or watch other people play or participate in it.

True, but you’re not playing chess to survive.

We have to let go of the idea that we should be able to support ourselves with something we love, and that’s its meaning. We should do things because we love them, and in a perfect world, some people will make a living at that. Other people like me will have to work in a bookstore or find other ways to pay the bills while we do our art.

You recently tweeted, “We are less than a year or two away from giving AI a film script and then watching that film the same day. Production costs are going to go to ZERO. Within 5 years, great-looking films will be made this way. Within 20 years, almost all films will be made this way.”

With the writer's strike, it’s interesting to think about how something like AI can affect the writing world, but doesn’t your statement discount the work of costumers and props people and grips and cinematographers and set builders, and so on? Those people might be living their passion, but they might also just be doing their jobs.