Ethical AI for Writers with Ana del Valle

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Beth Barany and Ana dell Valle

Quote from Ethical AI for Writers with Ana del Valle

Ethical AI for Writers with Ana del Valle – How To Write the Future podcast, episode 190

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“I think that if you sit on the sidelines and you choose to ignore these tools, you have no chance to compete in this new marketplace. You have no chance. I’m not gonna sugarcoat it. These tools can help you do structure, do deep thinking, do critical thinking very quickly and very, very good, and you’re gonna be competing with very hungry writers that wanna learn craft, that have incredible tools in their hands.” – Ana del Valle

In this How To Write the Future podcast episode, titled “Ethical AI for Writers with Ana del Valle” host Beth Barany interviews a leading authority in ethical AI for creative writing on tips on how to get the most out of your chat GPT questions plus predictions on the future of AI and how it will affect traditional publishers in 2026.

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About the How To Write the Future podcast 

The How To Write The Future podcast is for science fiction and fantasy writers who want to write positive futures and successfully bring those stories out into the marketplace. Hosted by Beth Barany, science fiction novelist and creativity coach for writers. We cover tips for fiction writers.This podcast is for readers too if you’re at all curious about the future of humanity.

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– How do I create a believable world for my science fiction story?

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This podcast is for readers, too, if you’re at all curious about the future of humanity.

ABOUT ANA DEL VALLE

Ana dell Valle

Award-winning novelist and technologist, Ana Del Valle is a recognized authority on AI in fiction writing, host of The Novelist Studio Podcast & YouTube channel, and founder of the AI Creative Writing Academy — the first AI-Assist Writing system recognized by the U.S. Copyright Office. Through her AI-Assist framework, she transforms the way writers approach fiction — harnessing AI as a creative ally to build complex, compelling novels, without ever losing their voice, their copyright control, or publishing rights.

Website: https://www.thenoveliststudio.com/

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Transcript for episode 190 – Ethical AI for Writers with Ana del Valle 

Introduction and Host Welcome 

BETH BARANY: Hi everyone. I am Beth Barany. Welcome to How to Write the Future Podcast. This is a podcast for science fiction and fantasy writers and anyone who cares about the future. 

I am an award-winning science fiction and fantasy novelist, obviously podcaster and filmmaker, and I love, love, love talking to experts and thinkers about ways in which we can make our lives better because I believe with our creativity, we can actually reshape humanity for the good of all. So I’m very excited today to bring in a guest. And in a moment I’m gonna bring her into the center view for those of you watching on YouTube.

[00:38] Guest Introduction: Ana del Valle 

I’m very excited to bring in Ana del Valle.

She is a leading authority in ethical AI for creative writing. Such a great topic and an important topic. 

Ana, welcome. 

ANA DEL VALLE: Hey, Beth, I’m so excited to be here and thanks for that quick intro. I have the YouTube channel The Novelist Studio. That’s where you can find me. And I am a leading authority in AI ethical use of AI for creative writers.

I have developed a program specifically that I used to coach, uh, my students. It’s called the AI Creative Writing Academy. And it’s a bunch of AI editors that help you along the way without ever writing your novel. 

BETH BARANY: Wow. That is really interesting. 

[01:24] Do Real Writers Use AI?

And maybe we can start off with just asking the question, do real writers use AI?

[01:31] Ethical AI in Creative Writing 

The first thing I’d like to unpack is to really talk about ethical AI. 

ANA DEL VALLE: Mm-hmm. 

BETH BARANY: I had a previous guest on who was a, a novelist who included that, those ideas in her fiction. And so I think it’s really important to talk about ethical AI and what is that opposing, right?

What are we contrasting that with? 

ANA DEL VALLE: Yeah, so ethical AI use is pretty much if you follow the US copyright guidelines, which is by the way, the strictest worldwide in terms of the use of AI in, in creative works. And if you also adhere to the Author’s Guild Guidance, those two things pretty much give you the roadmap of exactly what it is that you need to do in order to stay on the right side of the use of ethical AI.

Pretty much just to, uh, summarize it. If you’re prompting any LLM and asking it to heavily edit a chapter or rewrite an entire chapter, you are really starting to cross over into, possibly, copyright challenges. And I’ve had, you know, I, I, like I said, I have a YouTube channel that I constantly talk about this topic and I have a lot of people that are always dropping in and telling me, you know, you’re saying you’re, that’s not what the copyright law says.

And I always say, well, why don’t you just download my book ChatGPT for Creative Writers, where I basically have the copyright law and what that means, that their interpretation and different use cases that you can see just to make sure that you are on the right side of ethical AI use. 

The net is if you’re using AI as a tool to help you understand structure, look at things in a different way, get some ideas for possible scenes that you can develop in your overall story, you still have to write the book. You still have to write the book. That’s the, that’s an ethical use of AI. 

BETH BARANY: Yeah. 

ANA DEL VALLE: Anytime that the, that the AI starts generating prose for you, you know, that you’re not ethically using AI anymore.

BETH BARANY: That’s a really great distinction and basically you can, you’re basically saying you can use these tools, use them like a coach. 

ANA DEL VALLE: Yeah. 

BETH BARANY: Use them like someone who asks you questions, someone who knows story structure, who could say, you know, I’ve used this in, in one of my fiction material. I say, analyze what I’ve written according to this kind of framework, and ask me questions, give me an analysis of how I did, make suggestions for what is missing, but do not give me content. 

ANA DEL VALLE: Right. 

BETH BARANY: And so now I’m, and, 

ANA DEL VALLE: And they’re so, you know, ChatGPT is so quick to, hey, would you like me to now rewrite this for you? Right. It’s so helpful. 

BETH BARANY: Right. And, and so I say, no, I am rewriting this. 

ANA DEL VALLE: Yeah. Yeah. 

BETH BARANY: Yeah. 

[04:19] Understanding Prompts and AI Editing 

And so, um, just for those who are less familiar with AI. 

ANA DEL VALLE: Mm-hmm. 

BETH BARANY: Tell us what a prompt is because we may have some beginners who are listening who don’t know what a a to prompt an LLM means. 

ANA DEL VALLE: Yeah. 

BETH BARANY: So if you can put that into, like decode that for folks. 

ANA DEL VALLE: Yeah, so prompting just means asking questions.The way that you ask a question is really, uh, the kind of answer that you’re gonna get in return. And LLMs are like, I like to always think of them like, it’s like you’re speaking to a 6-year-old kid. You have to be incredibly specific about what you want and very paused, right? 

You can’t just give it a bunch of instructions at the same time, because if you do, then it’s gonna do like 30% of ’em, right? Like, so that’s why people are like, oh, it’s, it’s garbage. Well, I always say garbage in, garbage out, right? So that’s really what a prompt is, is just the way that you ask a question and just always remember like you’re talking to a 6-year-old kid. 

[05:18] Guidance for Writers Using AI [h3]

BETH BARANY: You mentioned that, you said there’s an original sin in your notes to me, and I was like, what, what is that? What’s, I’m like, where, where does this come from? Is this an 

[05:27] The Original Sin of AI Training 

ANA DEL VALLE: Yeah, so the original sin. Okay, so now let’s shift gears to that. One of the things that I have realized is that a lot of writers, and I think that this is getting better, people are starting to have more acceptance.

But, and this is one of the 10 myths that I cover in my ebook, ChatGPT for Creative Writers; The No BS Myth Busting Manifesto. Um, but yes, the LLMs used copyrighted work to train their model, right? Like these companies used copyrighted work, but we got it. They understood that it was wrong. It was part of the evolution of the technology, they violated the law of fair use.

They were not, they, they didn’t realize they were gonna violate the law of fair use until it started violating the law of fair use. It’s one of those things, right, because when you’re building a technology, like a large language model, you need to feed it things right, in order to learn a natural language. And the law of fair use says that you can absolutely do that. So they were within the scope of the law of fair use. Where they violated it was when they started making revenue from the LLMs. And that’s when it became an issue, right? So now we have all these things in place. There’s been lawsuits that have been put to bed and authors have been paid.

Publishers are opting in authors to, for an extra three to five thousand dollars allow the LLM to train on the manuscript. 

[07:03] Embracing AI Tools for Better Writing 

So this is getting corrected, right? So it would be almost silly to continue to hold on to that thought, to that original sin. 

BETH BARANY: Mm-hmm. 

ANA DEL VALLE: And not take advantage of these tools that can absolutely make everyone a better writer. 

[07:20] The Future of AI in Literature 

BETH BARANY: And what are some of the predictions that you have for AI and writing and where you think this is going?

And it gives me big, it gives me a lot of hope when you said, human creativity isn’t going away, cause that’s been my primary concern from the beginning. And I keep seeing that no, nothing is replacing humans. This whole 

ANA DEL VALLE: No, 

BETH BARANY: General AI general, whatever. 

ANA DEL VALLE: Yeah. 

BETH BARANY: Not gonna happen. 

ANA DEL VALLE: There’s a few things that I wanna touch on because I think it’s important.

Number one is I really do believe that we are entered, we have entered the new golden age of literature. And why do I say that? I say that because now we have writers, good writers are gonna get great. And, uh, great writers are gonna redefine what is possible with story structure. 

BETH BARANY: Wow. 

ANA DEL VALLE: Because there’s so much you can do for structure now and very quickly and at different angles, and what if I do this and what if I do that? And right? So it’s really gonna advance the quality of novels that are gonna be published by reputable publishers and by writers using AI ethically. 

BETH BARANY: Mm-hmm. 

ANA DEL VALLE: Um, and there’s, there’s an opportunity for a lot of people now, an opportunity for a lot of people.

I will also say that. 

[08:32] Opportunities and Predictions for Writers 

I predict that AI generated novels are going to continue to flood the Amazon marketplace, and I think that Amazon is going to start flagging. They will probably either acquire an AI detection tool or develop their own in-house. And when you’re going to through the upload process, which you now have to disclose if you use AI in any way, but spoiler alert.

People are not disclosing anything, right? They’re like, I wrote this, it just helped me. Or whatever. Right? Whatever story they wanna tell themselves and they’re just taking your word for it. But I think that Amazon is actually gonna put that in place. You’ll still be able to publish, but people will know it’s an AI co-developed novel or AI generated.

Readers are still gonna buy it. Okay? The market is dictated by the readers. Readers don’t care if it was, uh, generated by a machine. Most readers, I will say. You know how many great authors we follow now that have a ton of ghost writers, and they’re just a brand, right? It’s the same thing, right?

BETH BARANY: Mm-hmm. 

ANA DEL VALLE: So I do believe that that’s gonna happen, and as a result of that. My third prediction is that there’s gonna be a rise in traditional publishing and acquisition of traditional publishing. Again, because a lot of writers that are really good writers are not gonna wanna be flooded in the Amazon marketplace with a bunch of AI generated novels.

And because now they have these tools and they can be better writers if they were indie writers before, now they can do structure better, enhance their skills, and they can be picked up traditionally, and they’re gonna wanna be picked up traditionally. 

BETH BARANY: I love that. I, that was unexpected. I love that. I love being surprised. 

[10:25] Predictions and Advice for Writers 

So, how do you feel that AI is going to, and maybe already, obviously already has, but how is AI going to affect writers going forward? 

ANA DEL VALLE: Let me take a question from a different angle.

I think that if you sit on the sidelines and you choose to ignore these tools, you have no chance to compete in this new marketplace. You have no chance. You have no chance. I’m not gonna sugarcoat it. These tools can help you do structure, do deep thinking, do critical thinking very quickly and very, very good, and you’re gonna be competing with very hungry writers that wanna learn craft, that have incredible tools in their hands.

So I would say get off that fence and start trying to learn, you know, how to use these tools. And the other way I think it’s gonna affect writers is that those writers that were, they didn’t have the means, to hire editors or help them with things before, we’re gonna see the democratization of a lot of voices through these AI tools. 

BETH BARANY: Mm-hmm. That’s great 

ANA DEL VALLE: Because it’s twenty bucks a month. Yeah, twenty bucks a month to use ChatGPT. And all you gotta do is talk to it like if it was a 6-year-old kid.

BETH BARANY: Yeah. That’s great. I love it. 

[11:40] Final Thoughts and Resources 

And is there anything else that, um, you wanna say to writers about AI that we haven’t talked about today? 

ANA DEL VALLE: So I will say my parting thought again, if you’re sitting on the fence, here is a little story for you, okay?

In the beginning of the year, I sent in for, uh, workshops. I wanted to be a speaker at, at a, a handful of, uh, writer’s conferences, like top writing conferences in the US and I got the thanks, but no thanks, we don’t cover any AI topics because it’s against what the Author’s Guild Guidance, blah, blah, blah.

They, they. They were misquoting the Author’s Guild Guidance, but whatever. They were just giving me the thanks, but no thanks. And even when I try to explain to them like, hey, this is an important topic that we need to discuss, right? And you guys are leaders in this space, I would still get the thanks, but no thanks.

Just a couple of months ago I was accepted to speak at a top conference in the US, a a writing conference, and um, out of like thirteen hundred and fifty submissions they only selected twenty seven speakers, and I was one of them. And I’m the only person speaking, um, on AI. I think there’s one other person that is doing some, some AI related things, but, um, at the, at this depth that I go into, and they were so thrilled to have me, and they were like, we need more information on this, and we want to give you three full hours, just say everything. 

So I say that because, um, uh, this is the, the tides are turning, the tides are turning. Learn how to use AI ethically. 

BETH BARANY: Yeah. 

ANA DEL VALLE: And become a great, great writer. 

BETH BARANY: Yeah. That’s wonderful. So I have one curve ball question, or not exactly curve ball, but one question I just remembered that I like to ask all my guests, which is when you hear how to write the future, what does that call up for you?

ANA DEL VALLE: Uh, you know, I think that I, I’m getting a little bit of goosebumps right now when you asked me that question because as storytellers, and I’ve always, always been a huge fan of science fiction writers because I feel like they have to be smart in many different ways, and they have to think about a lot of different things.

So when, when you say, uh, what comes up, up for me when you say you know how to write the future, I think that what comes up for me is that we are going to be able to provide such great storytelling at such a deep level in this new era, um, for readers that it’s just incredibly exciting. And that’s why I say we are in the new golden age of literature right now.

BETH BARANY: Hmm. Oh, that’s so wonderful. So wonderful. 

So how can people find you, Ana? I understand you have some goodies to offer folks. 

ANA DEL VALLE: Yes. Yes. So you can find me at my YouTube channel. It’s The Novelist Studio. I also have the podcast, but I do a lot of demos on my YouTube video, so you probably wanna catch me there.

And, in terms of goodies, I do have a complimentary ebook that I’ve mentioned before ChatGPT for Creative Writers; The No BS Myth Busting Manifesto and I cover all the things there, but the top 10 things. But the environment, but the original sin. But what about this? What about that, right? Yeah, I cover it all and ’cause it’s always like the same questions.

And so you can grab that, for free. And also if you’re interested in The AI Creative Writing Academy, which is my academy that I run, it is actually a community and, writers use an AI editorial system that I built inside of ChatGPT, so it seamlessly integrates into your ChatGPT dashboard, and it walks you through the entire end to end writing process. And you start with Simone and she’s a story starter, a market positioning coach, and she will ask you 20 succinct questions on your story in a way that it’s constructed to have a certain output and clarity for the writer. And then she develops this incredible story starter kit for you and it gives writers so much clarity.

And you can, you can grab her standalone, she’s only, I think like thirty seven dollars or something like that. And then if you really like what you get with her, then you can move on to the AI Creative Writing Academy and work with Olivia who will help you outline your novel, or Ellis, who is a developmental editor specializing in structure and character deepening.

And so the AI Creative Writing Academy is a month to month membership and I’m in the, in the community twice a month live. And then we have obviously a private community that you can ask questions 24/7. 

BETH BARANY: That’s so wonderful. Wow. So robust. I think that’s such a great service to writers if they wanna get started with AI ethically and write their fiction.

That’s wonderful. Well, we’re gonna wrap it up here. Ana, thank you so much for being a guest. 

ANA DEL VALLE: It was awesome. It was awesome. Thank you so much. 

BETH BARANY: You really demystified this topic for writers, I believe. So I am going to wrap it up for today. Thanks everyone for listening and for watching, How to Write the Future. And that’s it for this week. Write long and prosper. ​ 

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ABOUT BETH BARANY 

Beth Barany

Beth Barany teaches science fiction and fantasy novelists how to write, edit, and publish their books as a coach, teacher, consultant, and developmental editor. She’s an award-winning fantasy and science fiction novelist and runs the podcast, “How To Write The Future.”

 

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