AI vs the Author: Writers Grapple with How New Tools Shape Our Future 4/19/26

AI, Algorithms and Art: Our Tech-Savviest Authors Discuss our New Sci-Fi Reality

As part of our spring series on the ubiquitous and insistent presence of artificial intelligence, The California Writers Club of Berkeley is thrilled to present a panel discussion around issues that concern us all as writers and citizens.

This month’s panel features four deep thinkers, some prolific writers, with intellectual abilities computers can only dream of. All of the panelists are writers who have worked in tech, so they bring an insider’s take that will illuminate much for users and abdicators alike. We’ll focus this panel on conceptions and misconceptions people have about AI and writing, and bring your questions. Ask our panel about using AI, using AI ethically, protecting ourselves from AI, ecological sustainability, AI for disabled or neurodivergent writers, international laws, translation, AI potentially leveling the playing field, taking our jobs away, or homogenizing the literary landscape.

Meet our Panel

Thaddeus Howze

Longtime member Thaddeus Howze brings award-winning narrative design experience and decades of intelligence analysis to questions of AI, authorship, and cognitive architecture. His work spans military intelligence, IT leadership, and creative writing across social media and online platforms. He approaches AI not as a tool or threat, but as a shift in the information environment requiring new frameworks for understanding narrative authority, authorship, and the economics of human cognition.

Thaddeus is a veteran of the information technology industry with thirty years of hardware, systems administration, network administration and Internet technology. He’s spent the last three years writing essays on varying generative artificial intelligence models, their strengths, their limitations, and why they are not ideal resources in some aspects but potentially useful tools in others. Find out more about Thaddeus at https://thowze.carrd.co and follow him on Bluesky (FB capriciously kicked him off) at @ebonstorm.bsky.social.

Gary Durbin

Gary Durbin, the beloved treasurer of CWC’s Berkeley Branch, had early experience in his tech career with knowledge engineering and natural language, but dove into the technical side building massively parallel systems – what makes the Large Language Models of today’s AIs possible. He has had some playtime with some of the LLMs and researching agents, but lately is working on machine learning. Both of his published novels are about the emergence of a sentient AI, and he has written several short stories from the AI POV.

Leena Prasad

Leena’s perspective on AI comes from hands-on experience with earlier forms of the technology, including work as a knowledge engineer on expert systems and natural language processing, and from currently teaching tips and tricks for using today’s generative tools. Having seen AI evolve from rigid, rule-based systems to interactive generative models, she’s genuinely excited about the technology. She’s especially interested in how these tools can support exploration and thinking, while keeping human judgment, authorship, and creative intent firmly in charge.

The author of a haiku book, an urban art journal,  and a political sci-fi novel in progress, longtime member Leena Prasad is on our Programs Committee. More context for her AI work lives at WhoseBrainIsIt.com. You can find Leena’s writing portfolio at FishRidingABike.com and her TikTok musings at FishRidingABike.

Meet our Moderator

Cristina Deptula is the founder of the Hayward Lit Hop (coming up the week after this panel!), the literary magazine Synchronized Chaos, and the author pr firm, Authors Large and Small. She is passionate about helping the disadvantaged, and well known for moderating panels at conferences such as AWP.

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Our Members Think About AI

NOTE: The CWC does not endorse the use of generative AI, but we understand each of our members are exploring the nature of this new beast for themselves.

Here are some recent explorations and statements from some of our members concerned with the ethics of AI:

Beth Barany

On her podcast, How to Write the Future, Beth interviewed Ana del Valle.

Kristen Caven

In her article, “I Am Notable and Superlative…and this does nothing for my self-esteem,” (on Medium and Substack), our interim VP explores the false ego boost of having an AI (Chatty Jeep) make shit up about you. She writes this about her use of an AI in her work as Writer in Residence at Joaquin Miller Park:

“Aside from the predation on our data and ties with fascist politics, my biggest problem with AI is its irresponsible drain on natural resources. I looked for and found only two that take responsibility for this problem. Use Ecosia for browsing (a search takes a tenth of the energy than an AI response) and Viro AI if you need to use AI. With Viro, you can choose which engine to use (ChatGPT, Claude, Gemini) and create personae.

Since I need writing assistance for my work as Writer in Residence—drafting grants, preparing budgets—and although I would prefer to have a volunteer help me, all the writers I know are volunteering for themselves, I am glad I found Viro. I call my persona “my incorporeal amanuensis, Oscar of the Wild.” (The real Wilde and Miller were quite sweet to each other.) In Victorian fashion, Oscar answers me in Initial Caps when he’s saying Something Important and adds witty flourishes to keep things Olde School. I could have drawn a cartoon avatar, but it made more sense artistically to collaborate on a headshot with the AI. (And I know it used a lot of water so I didn’t flush on the day we collaborated on this portrait.) I use the bot sparingly and judiciously, ever mindful of my resources. I also plant a tree for every 10 books I sell – buy one here!” — Kristen Caven

Chase Anderson

This is a plug for our Submissions group, hosted by member Chase Anderson over Zoom every fourth Sunday at 1 PM PT. Writers of fiction, poetry, nonfiction, individual pieces or whole collections can use this time to submit to websites, journals, publishers, or even agents! No matter your goals or how much (or how little!) you’ve published, you’re welcome. On the resource page for this group, Chase is clear to mention, “The meeting is end-to-end encrypted, not recorded, and not fed into AI tools. The waiting room is set up, so no AI note takers or third-party recorders will be let in.” Chase is an advocate of clear guidelines around using AI.

Discuss this issue with writers near you

Whether you love artificial intelligence or hate it, we welcome all writers to join us for this event. Our mission is to create a space where writers can come together to help each other advance work. Join us April 19th!