Being an Amazon-based author is stressful in ways that will look familiar to anyone who makes a living on a digital platform. In order to survive in a marketplace where infinite other options are a click away, authors need to find their fans and keep them loyal. So they follow readers to the microgenres into which Amazon’s algorithms classify their tastes, niches like “mermaid young adult fantasy” or “time-travel romance,” and keep them engaged by writing in series, each installment teasing the next, which already has a title and set release date, all while producing a steady stream of newsletters, tweets, and videos.
Above all else, authors must write fast. Writer’s block is a luxury she can’t afford, which is why as soon as she heard about an artificial intelligence tool designed to break through it, she started beseeching its developers on Twitter for access to the beta test. The tool was called Sudowrite.
The acid test for any book is really going to be whether readers continue to enjoy reading it, no matter whether it is written by a human or not. If that experience feels off, or jars in any way, then that will focus the reader on what's behind the book. This is actually true whether it is a bad AI or a bad human author.
The same really goes for art. If that painting brings you enjoyment by looking at it hanging on your wall, does it matter whether an artist or AI painted it?
Of course though, when it comes to actual copyright, that is going to be interesting... But that said, we already use spell checkers, grammar checkers, thesauri, word processors, and so many other aids when creating anything, and we progressed from pen and paper, to typewriter, and then computers. It does not seem unethical to use AI to generate non-fiction as the next evolutionary step, but yes, traditional writing seems to have always been reserved for works of fiction.
The article unpacks the issues and ethics into an interesting read. Ultimately, I suppose the author (human one) is still accountable for the story line and outcomes, and must be happy to publish something under their name. The AI technology is just not perfect yet, and I'd imagine many other peers would be fearful, jealous or whatever, of it too.
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Can AI write good novels?#
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Authors are getting a hand from machine learning tools — and some of them think it’s the future of writing.
