The USA release of horror novel Shy Girl by Mia Ballard has been cancelled after it was suspected that most of the book was a product of AI.
Recently the literary agent Kate Nash noticed that the submission letters she was getting from authors were becoming more thorough and more formulaic. She thought nothing of it until she saw a reference to AI on one of the letters.
Publishers in general are now on the lookout for AI-generated books, but AI can be hard to detect and no doubt some are slipping through the net.
Does it really matter though if a book has AI input? Surely the key question is whether it's a good book or not? If AI enables the author to writer a better book or do some useful editing for her, what's wrong with that?
The idea seems to be that only a book written totally by a human being, with no outside help, relying entirely on human imagination and creativity, is of value, while anything that uses a machine must be inferior.
What alarms authors of course is that publishers will start producing AI-written books themselves and do away with authors altogether. Which would be disastrous for authors but probably of no great concern to readers.
Perhaps I can use AI to write my blog posts?
PS: The New York Times has cut ties with freelance journalist Alex Preston after discovering he used AI to help write a book review.
I'm not a fan of AI anything. Between their use of water and electricity (our rates are now sky-high in my state) and the poor quality of information generated when looking things up on the internet, I am not impressed.
ReplyDeleteI suspect it would be fairly easy to tell AI generated books from author written.
Bijoux: I wonder how the publisher worked out that the book was AI-influenced? Water and electricity are expensive in the UK too, but I suspect this is more a result of corporate greed than AI.
DeleteDon't open Pandora's Box. AI is a creepy thing, manipulating human behaviour . Concerning literature each author has a particular style , his or her own way to describe emotions , atmospheres and feelings.
ReplyDeleteHumanity is losing slowly its significance and people seem to follow .in the most stupid manner. Just desperate.
Hannah
Hannah: I suspect most authors will reject any AI influence because by the sound of it it simply doesn't produce the originality and quirkiness of an author's writing. Re humanity losing its significance and people following blindly, I think that's more the result of social media than AI.
DeleteNick,well more than 900 million people use weekly ChatGpt which is AI generated.
DeleteHannah
Hannah: Which means I suppose that those 900 million don't care if the chatbot is AI-assisted or not.
DeleteI differ with you here. There is a difference. A creative mind and a programed mind are not the same. I am not a fan of AI at all. Where do humans fit in if AI becomes adept at everything?
ReplyDeleteSandra: I'm always open to different opinions! I think it's probably too early to see what difference AI makes to literature as we haven't yet had enough AI-assisted books to see if they're noticeably inferior to the "real thing".
DeleteI don’t actually care if they are good or not, nick. I object to the idea of removing the human.
DeleteSandra: Fair enough. I suspect the one thing that marks a good book - originality - is something AI is incapable of.
DeleteI've been reading a series of books that read as if they were written by Jane Austin. The author made a point of saying she did NOT use AI in writing the book. I appreciate the author more for having made that much effort in her writing. I think such talent should be acknowledged.
ReplyDeleteI also know an author whose book was used to teach AI how to write in a personal tone. The author was not compensated in any way for this use of her book. In my mind, that's theft.
By the time your idea of "wait and see" happens, it will be too late.
Linda
Linda: I say wait and see because at the moment there are very few AI-assisted books for us to sample and decide if they're better or worse than authored books. I agree that using someone's work without their permission is theft.
DeleteI'm on the fence right now about this. I think it isn't fair to other authors who don't use AI and come up with the entire book themselves.
ReplyDeleteMary: Good point. But how do you know that a book is AI-assisted? People might think a book is AI-assisted but the author denies it. Then what?
ReplyDeleteA bad thing can still be a bad thing even if it's not always possible to catch people who do it.
DeleteInfidel: True. But how do you know a book is bad (AI-assisted) in the first place? How exactly would it differ from an authored book?
DeleteI meant "a bad thing" in the sense of an unethical thing, which I assume is what Mary was getting at, in saying "it isn't fair".
DeleteInfidel: I see what you mean.
DeleteOne day humans will be extinct and everything will be AI. One day my AI bot will be commenting on your AI blog post. We'll probably still be conversing in the ether 300 years from now.
ReplyDeleteSx
Ms Scarlet: Perhaps the best reply to AI is Exterminate, exterminate.
DeleteReading is a way to consume art. Writing is a way to produce art.
ReplyDeleteCan art even exist without the human experience?
Kylie: Is this you? I'm getting a strange page when I click on your name. It says your blog is A Write Panic, which obviously it isn't.
DeleteHi Nick,
DeleteI have a different account i use on my phone. Long story. I think i was added to "A write panic" which was a group effort.
So the short answer is yes, it is me but a different account so it doesn't link back to my blog.
Kylie: I'm sure art would exist but it probably wouldn't be much good. As I said earlier I think the crucial ingredient of a good book is originality, which AI wouldn't be capable of.
DeleteNick, I too do not think it' fair for authors to use AI. Classic authors managed to do so relying on their own creativity and imagination as this technology wasn't available back then. I wonder what the novels of Agatha Christie and even the Bible would be like if they had been AI generated. The use of AI by authors and journalists seems to be a lazy way out in my pinion vs doing their own research.
ReplyDeleteBeatrice: AI-assisted Agatha Christie, the mind boggles! As I said before, I would like to read a few AI-assisted books to see whether they're really as bad as people suggest.
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