In this interview with Karl Schroeder, a science fiction novelist, he explains how he could see AI being a source of inspiration for writers, rather than a threat to the profession. Schroeder explains that today, computers are incapable of producing meaning so they would be poor novelists, however as technology becomes more refined, this may change in the future. For now, AI can be used as a tool to spark creativity.

How collaborating with artificial intelligence could help writers of the future - D. Zeiba

Zeiba's (2021) piece outlines several authors that are pushing the boundaries of AI in the literary field, and challenging what computational literature can be. While it is acknowledged that AI does not yet have the potential to mimic the creativity and coherence of a human writer, some writers are questioning if this is missing the point. Rather the pertinent question may be: can AI produce literature that is uniquely non-human, but still creative and valuable? Other authors and scholars are creating code to use AI and algorithmic literature to challenge power structures and inequities. Through all of these acts, writers continue to share stories, showing that AI may in fact have a role in literature of the future.

A humanoid who cares for humans, from the mind of Kazuo Ishiguro - R. Jones

Klara and the Sun by Kazuo Ishiguro is a science fiction story narrated by Klara, an Artificial Friend (AF)—a solar powered humanoid machine. Klara acts as a companion to Josie, a lonely 14-year-old who suffers from an unnamed illness (Jones, 2021). Klara’s tale takes place in a dystopian future, where AI has assumed the role of many elite workers and children are genetically engineered to excel academically. As an AF, Klara is an advanced machine learner that over time has the ability to have feelings (Jones, 2021). Ishiguro provides a compelling perspective on the role technology plays in society both today and in the future, and the cost-benefit analysis that may be set aside in favour of human’s attempts to prosper.

Famous book quotes completed by artificial intelligence - P. Kowalczyk

Kowalczyk’s (2019) article walks you through a fun test that the author performed: using ML to re-write famous quotes about books and reading. The author input the beginning of a quote to a GPT-2 language model tool, which then finished the thought. Some of the ML-generated quotes are thought provoking, but most are absurdly humorous. This test is an excellent reminder that ML is not yet ready to produce consistently profound literature, but is an interesting tool to generate new and unusual ideas.

Further Reading

If you like to read and are interested in learning more about the intersections between literature and AI, please check out the following articles: