After winning the Akutagawa Prize, Japanese writer Rie Kudan disclosed that artificial intelligence (AI) was a significant influence in the creation of her book, “The Tokyo Tower of Sympathy,” according to CNN.
At a press conference, Kudan—who won the esteemed literary award for emerging writers—told reporters that ChatGPT, an artificial intelligence language model, produced about 5% of her critically acclaimed book verbatim.
But now the question is whether she would accept the compliment in return. The thirty-three-year-old author committed to using AI to further her creative endeavors when she said, “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.”
“The Tokyo Tower of Sympathy” centers on the difficulties an architect had when building a high-rise prison in Tokyo with artificial intelligence as a major theme. The novel was praised by committee members as “practically flawless.”
When Kudan discussed how she used ChatGPT to solve problems, she disclosed that the main character’s emotional expressions were impacted by responses from the AI that didn’t match expectations.
Although Kudan is not the first artist to use artificial intelligence (AI) in their work, the use of technology has caused debate among the artistic world. Authors and artists that have expressed reservations about the use of AI include George R.R. Martin, Jodi Picoult, and John Grisham. They have also taken part in legal lawsuits against OpenAI, the company that created ChatGPT.Prize committee member Keiichiro Hirano made it clear that the committee did not view Kudan’s use of AI as harmful, despite divergent views on social media. Hirano emphasized that the use of AI was acknowledged in the piece and urged a nuanced view of the technology’s use in artistic endeavors.
