Cultivating writerly virtues: Critical human elements of multimodal writing in the age of artificial intelligence

Abstract

With increased availability, accessibility, and capability of artificial intelligence (AI) tools, we argue that human processes of virtuous and multimodal composition can support meaningful communication. After defining our perspectives on writerly virtue and multimodality, we suggest how writers and their instructors might approach the use of AI tools in virtuous and multimodal writing and argue that writing processes promote human development, and the products support purposeful human-to-human communication. We explain our views of virtuous and multimodal composition with examples of writers across contexts and provide potential implications for writerly development and writing instructors.