You might not realize it yet, but you’re experiencing a fascinating moment in literary history. Just as printing technology revolutionized the industry, so has the emergence of artificial intelligence.
One obvious effect is the influx of AI-generated books saturating the market. Will these works become the future of literature or are they just a passing trend?
AI-Generated Books
Developers are working hard on making AI as human-like as possible. While there are giant strides still to be made, it does show a lot of potential.
In fact, with the rise of generative AI, plenty of industries have begun using it as their source of content. This includes text, videos, audio, images, and even interactive content. It’s cheap, easy to use, and delivers results in a blink. That’s just the tip of the iceberg. Many are experimenting with AI’s capabilities and limitations.
One particular way it’s being used is to generate full-length books. Hundreds of AI-written books have flooded Amazon, through its self-publishing route. Even prominent sci-fi magazines like Clarkesworld are getting overwhelmed with AI-written fiction, albeit in short story form. It got so bad that they had to close submissions for a while.
Numerous tutorials have also popped up on social media, teaching people how to write books in just a few hours using AI. Some individuals are even selling courses, likely as a way to capitalize on the popularity of AI.
This topic has understandably sparked intense debate. If AI can produce coherent books with minimal human input, what does this mean for writers? Even if it can’t replace writers, it will still mean a permanent change in the industry—the ramifications yet to be determined as either positive or negative.
You’ll find tons of conversations, articles, and video analyses online about its creative applications. Many authors have spoken out about the use of AI, which will be discussed further below.
Ethical and Moral Dilemmas
If a book was good, would you read it even if it’s written by AI? And if AI can make good books, would you, as a writer, use it? If AI became that good, what’s stopping people from making books tailored to their tastes instead of buying them?
It’s the classic dilemma of whether the good outweighs the bad. AI has proven its usefulness but many fear its negative impact on creative professions.
Critics argue that relying on AI removes the human factor that drives diversity and creativity in writing. This could lead to the homogenization of storytelling. It’s not an unfounded criticism, as one editor has already received numerous stories with identical titles, each from different authors and addresses.
Another concern is authenticity and originality. Can AI truly create original works, or is it merely replicating existing data? Who is considered the author of an AI-generated work? Does copyright even apply or is it uncharted territory? At this point, it’s all a confusing mess that is still trying to sort itself out.
Other Issues
Many have also called for the policing of AI due to emerging problems of misinformation, inaccuracy, and bias. All AI systems are trained on vast amounts of data that may include these issues, which can then be inadvertently reproduced in their outputs. This phenomenon is referred to as AI hallucination.
Even established authors have fallen victim to AI’s current policing problems. Jane Friedman, a veteran publisher and author, recently criticized the unauthorized use of her name as the author of multiple AI-generated works on Amazon.
Another case is the shutting down of Prosecraft, a site that used algorithms to analyze the works of popular authors, after significant backlash from authors big and small. And though the site’s removal was welcomed, many still have concerns regarding the data it had collected and the methods used to acquire it.
The Author’s Guild has also taken action, publishing an open letter asking AI companies to obtain permission from, credit, and compensate authors. It’s supported by more than 15,000 authors including big names like James Patterson, Margaret Atwood, Nora Roberts, and Celeste Ng. It’s safe to say that authors don’t approve of their works being used to train AI models.
With how gray the legalities concerning AI are, it’s also no surprise that lawsuits are already in action. This isn’t limited to authors, but also visual artists, publications, and other digital media companies,
The Importance of Human Input
The publishing industry is fighting back against AI. From publishers to readers, people are keeping a watchful eye and advocating for its proper management.
Why do people read and write in the first place? Entertainment is one, curiosity is another. Whatever the reason, both activities forge relationships between the reader and the writer. The author employs their knowledge, experience, and perspective to communicate a message to the reader, who then interprets it through their own knowledge, experience, and perspective.
It’s the author’s unique humanity that makes them enjoyable to read. After all, storytelling is deeply rooted in human experiences, emotions, and creativity. AI gets rid of yet requires that same humanity to train itself.
The Future
It’s obvious that AI is here to stay but it’s also obvious it’s not on a level that can write good, coherent books. Most publishers, agents, writers, and readers agree on this.
At the end of the day, AI isn’t human. It doesn’t have the contextual and emotional ability of a human being to understand complex themes, emotions, intuition, and the nuances of language. This alone makes it impossible for it to match human-written books.
But you also can’t deny that AI has its uses. Properly used, it can help you be a more efficient writer. Right now, you can use it to organize notes, generate helpful prompts, research, and edit your work. Its usefulness will only grow as its technology develops.
It will always be just a tool, its effectiveness limited by its user. It cannot function independently. After all, it relies on human writers to provide the data that fuels its creativity. That is unless it gains sentience, and, well…Hollywood’s already told you how that goes.
What do you think about AI-generated books? Share your thoughts in the comments below!
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Cole is a blog writer and aspiring novelist. He has a degree in Communications and is an advocate of media and information literacy and responsible media practices. Aside from his interest in technology, crafts, and food, he’s also your typical science fiction and fantasy junkie, spending most of his free time reading through an ever-growing to-be-read list. It’s either that or procrastinating over actually writing his book. Wish him luck!
