Does writing with AI still count as a literary prowess?

Concerns related to AI-generated works have emerged in recent years. In 2023, writers and music producers collectively sued ChatGPT, alleging that the chatbot disseminated their works without proper copyright consent. A more recent AI-related issue in 2024 involves a disclosure by Japanese writer Rie Kudan. She revealed that her novel, which clinched the most prestigious prize in Japan, the Akutagawa Prize, was completed with the assistance of AI. This revelation has sparked a debate on whether she can still be considered a great novelist.

The arguments

The ongoing conflict between Big Tech and the media industry has been a protracted one. Contentions arise over how social media platforms and search engines leverage news content to generate profits without compensating the original creators.

The dominance of Facebook, Google, and other major players in advertising markets has resulted in substantial revenue declines for media companies, precipitating widespread job losses in the industry over the years.

In 2023, the New York Times filed a lawsuit against OpenAI, the creator of ChatGPT, and its primary investor Microsoft. The lawsuit alleged that they unlawfully utilized content from The New York Times website for the training of Artificial Intelligence systems.

The New York Times asserted that ChatGPT incorporates content generated by its journalists to create responses to user requests. The company contends that some of this material is not publicly accessible but is situated behind a paywall, exclusively provided to subscribers.

According to The New York Times’ explanations, it is evident that incorporating every AI-generated response into your creative work means forfeiting the claim of originality, as the response may essentially be someone else’s work.

On the other hand, Rie Kudan stated in a press conference that her book, “Tokyo-to Dojo-to,” received only 5% assistance from AI. Consequently, she asserts that the remaining 95% is solely attributed to her creativity and ideas. In light of this, the question arises: should she not still be deserving of the award for the 95 percent that reflects her individual contribution?

“5% of the book is made up of sentences generated by AI,” Kudan said.

Nevertheless, she expresses a willingness to integrate AI-generated sentences into her forthcoming books. This raises a critical question: given the negative attention her book and award have garnered thus far, is this a direction she should continue to pursue?

“I plan to continue to profit from the use of AI in the writing of my novels while letting my creativity express itself to the fullest,” Rie added.

“So she wrote a book by skilfully using AI… Is that talent? I don’t know,” wrote one user on X who expressed the opinion that it is subpar for Rie to retain the prize.

The facts

The use of AI in writing can be seen as a form of technological assistance rather than a traditional display of individual literary prowess. While AI can generate coherent and contextually relevant text, it lacks the personal touch, emotional depth, and unique perspective that human authors bring to their work.

Literary prowess is often associated with the creativity, imagination, and emotional resonance that human writers infuse into their writing.

AI can be a valuable tool for various writing tasks, such as generating content, providing suggestions, or even enhancing efficiency. However, the essence of literary prowess, which involves the intricacies of human experience, emotions, and creativity, remains a distinct human capability.

The collaboration between human writers and AI tools can lead to interesting outcomes, but the credit for true literary prowess is still primarily attributed to human authors.