Francisco José Viegas: “I don’t think ChatGPT can write a poem”

Heading Quetzal Editores since 2008, the writer from Trás-os-Montes is no Luddite—he uses Artificial Intelligence for data research, "naturally," as he already used the internet. But he doesn't delegate his writing to machines and often even writes by hand. "There's a connection between the hand and the spirit," he recalls, before predicting that AI will create "a new form of humanity."

Almost 20 years ago, when his novel "Longe de Manaus" won the APE Grand Prize, Francisco told us here at VISÃO that at first he had index cards on his computer for the eternal protagonist Jaime Ramos and for each of the other characters, but that he had since switched to using notebooks – and was even writing a new book by hand, with an Artpen [an old Rotring fountain pen]. Do you still do that? I write more and more with pencil and pen. On paper, in notebooks and loose sheets, it doesn't matter. There's a connection between the hand and the spirit. Jean Brun, a French philosopher, has a book with that title [ The Hand and the Spirit , Edições 70]. I remember seeing a prime minister present at a school the novelty of digital whiteboards, which were supposed to replace the old chalk or marker boards… He said happily, "Now you don't have to get your hands dirty to draw a triangle, just press a key," without realizing how barbaric this was. Writing by hand makes us aware of what we write.