Who Needs Writers When You Have Chatbots?
booktok's AI crisis, gen AI in creative spaces, and why your reading habits matter
There's no doubt that artificial intelligence has revolutionized most labor spaces. Now, a storm is brewing directly within the publishing industry and on BookTok. Authors are denouncing Generative AI and its use in creative spaces, where many argue it doesn't belong. Meanwhile, AI companies are hiring BookTok creators to promote their platforms, uncaring about the impact on the book community. BookTok, a space that should be free from controversies, is now stuck in a conflict that affects writers, readers, and the entire publishing world. While I wish we could ignore this like the usual pointless online "drama," far too much is at stake this time. Let's talk about it.
What’s happening on BookTok?
One of BookTok’s most popular creators has posted an ad for Character.AI, an app that allows you to chat with your favorite characters and celebrities through Generative AI. She's not the only creator to have advertised this platform, but it's not the first time she's voiced a controversial opinion, which is probably why she's at the center of the attacks.
Jessa Hastings, author of the incredibly popular Magnolia Parks series, posted a rant on Instagram defending said creator, standing up for AI usage in a way that’s a bit too passionate. A lot of her readers are angry and admitting they won’t support her anymore. While most would agree with the first story she posted, condemning the hate comments that are flooding BookTok, the stories she posted after that have created quite a stir, especially considering that no one expected this kind of uninformed outburst from such a renowned and beloved writer.
Without getting into her absurd comment comparing the use of Google Maps or a Roomba to using a machine to write books, it's clear to anyone who reads this that she does use AI. Days later, a video of her saying she uses ChatGPT for research has resurfaced, and it has started a huge debate on what's fair or unfair in the writing world.
What about AI-generated writing?
I could write a hundred pages about the dangers and potentials of AI usage, both Analytical and Generative, but this isn't what I'm here to do. There's so much to say that I wouldn't do the topic justice. However, you do need some context.
I wrote a term paper for Uni dissecting the thoughts of two well-known scholars of artificial intelligence, and despite being nothing more than a media and communications student, I've learned a lot from them. The main takeaway is that researchers are split: some believe AI is the best thing we have for our future, while others believe its implications are destructive and dangerous.
There are two main types of AI, and the one people use daily is Generative, which continuously learns from its input. This means that anything written by AI is a regurgitated version of something that’s been written by a human. It also has environmental implications that are hard to ignore. No matter how much work goes into making it more environmentally friendly, it's simply not enough right now. Not to mention that, because it is shaped by what humans are teaching it, it can fuel discrimination, but this is a story for another day.
What's important to know is that Gen AI is a powerful tool that has proven invaluable in some facets of life, healthcare being one of them (enhancing diagnostics, personalizing treatment, predicting disease outbreaks, etc.). However, just because it can be used for good doesn't mean it belongs everywhere. One space where it has caused more harm than good is the creative world. It's been disruptive in more ways than one, and we'll discuss that shortly, along with why it's a form of plagiarism.
AI chatbots can be dangerous for users and authors
Character.AI is just one of the apps that are allowing users to chat with characters. The problem is, most of those characters are intellectual property from existing books or stories, belonging to someone else. While someone has put hours of work into crafting a character, users are exploiting someone else’s IP to customize their own stories, while the original creator gets no credit or compensation.
Can you imagine what it would be like to pour your heart into writing something to have less success than something written by a bot? I don’t know about you, but impostor syndrome eats me alive, and there’s nothing that feels more satisfying than receiving praise for something that you did, all by yourself. What’s the point in writing something if you can’t authentically connect to people, if you can’t put pieces of yourself into it?
These chatbots are unhealthy for their users, too. Interacting with a machine programmed to react in a way that's perfectly tailored to you is frankly quite scary. It's something a human could never do, because people don't always know what to say and aren't always honest with each other. The perceived "safety" of talking to someone who isn't real and having them respond in the best possible way isn't psychologically safe.
Fanfiction used to offer that intoxicating kind of connection and still does. It’s written by fans for fans, and it’s born from a place of admiration. It’s an homage to characters, whereas AI bots are trained on datasets of existing text, including copyrighted material, usually without permission from the original creators.
Authors are feuding over AI. Creators are too.
, best known for writing the Red Queen series and the Realm Breaker series, is one of the authors who have been using their platforms to denounce this issue and other problems surrounding AI (I recommend reading her open letter to publishers, signed by authors who are not supporting AI, if you want to make sure you’re supporting the right ones). Her character from Red Queen is one of the characters you can chat with on Character.AI, and she's receiving absolutely nothing from it. Rightly so, Aveyard is speaking up, and thankfully, the majority of people seem to agree: supporting real authors and real voices matters now more than ever. Gen AI is nothing more than a form of glorified plagiarism, taking authors' words and using them however it pleases.
A clear example of AI plagiarism comes from the case of fantasy author Lena McDonald, who left an AI prompt in her book made to mimic another author's writing style.
BookTok creators are turning against each other. A group of them didn't seem to mind the impact of promoting apps that write books for you. Others are reassuring their audience, affirming they’re completely against the employment of AI in the book space, and are fighting to better the publishing industry.
I think it’s hard not to think about what promoting AI writing in your content means for the authors you say you support, and if you don’t, it doesn’t make you a monster, but I wouldn’t blame anyone for not wanting to engage with that kind of content.
While I don't think it's okay to send hate to people for being unaware of the impact of AI usage (fairness goes both ways!), every writer is biased, whether they like it or not, and I am using my small platform to voice my own opinion. This doesn't mean the point of this post is to spew moral judgments. Instead, I’m helping you make informed choices, opening up a healthy discussion about our beliefs, and ensuring we're protecting the creative projects and artists that are dear to us.
Does Gen AI belong in book spaces?
I've checked a few websites to see how many writers admit to using AI, and apparently, it's around 50%. We all have our thoughts and feelings about this. What I want to emphasize is that, yes, AI speeds up the process. It helps with translation or editing, and you don't feel like it's doing all the work for you, considering you put the thoughts in. But other tools do that too! I promise you don't need it, and you'll be helping yourself and others by taking another route.
There's good old Thesaurus.com if you need a synonym; you can do your research anywhere else, look at Pinterest boards, observe people on the street, or pick up a book (not to copy, but to draw inspiration), and the list goes on.
If someone hires a writer and then splatters a name on a book as if they did the work, and that’s something that bothers you, there's no reason why any AI-written phrase shouldn't. People wrote masterpieces for years before machines could do anything about it. While the writing process can be tough and isolating, loving being a writer means embracing every part of it, even when it's laborious.
People have a right to be mad when they can't spot what's written by a human. As much as we all love to think we can, it's getting harder. Silver Elite by Dani Francis, a book that's been going around TikTok so much recently, is written under a pen name. While a lot of readers have been trying to figure out which author is hiding under that name, some are sure it's an AI experiment.
I read part of it, and I'm leaning towards the second option, too, but how would we know? I’m sure not everyone cares, but I, for one, want to know I’m connecting with someone, and not even knowing if there’s an actual author behind a book takes away from that experience.
Human writing is emotionally nuanced in a way that AI writing will never be, but we can't reliably recognize when something comes from Gen AI. It's a fact that it steals from authors. You don't need in-depth knowledge to understand that this is unethical; you'd likely behave the same as the authors criticizing it if your words were the ones being stolen. It'd be nice to have a system that helps readers figure this out and protects real authors, but that might be dreaming too big. What we can do is consume as much real writing as possible. Social media has played a huge role in getting more people to read, and it'd be sad for writers not to reap the benefits of it.
I honestly think we should worry more about the way beloved authors are being ripped off than about AI replacing human writing. I don't know about you, but I really do believe that technology can't replicate the talent, complexity, emotion, and beauty of real people. It can surely make something perfect, but it’s the imperfection that draws us to art. Humans will always cheer for other humans, and that's what I want to believe going forward.
I hope authors won't always have to fear their work being used against them or their careers being threatened by AI. And I hope writers don't feel the need to use a thousand tools to make sure their work is flawless, because that’s not the point of writing!
In defense of real voices
Instead of acting pretentious and being overly critical of books (which I have been guilty of at times), we should appreciate authors who craft stories from scratch. BookTok hasn’t been feeling like a safe space lately because of that, too. It’s one thing to say a book isn’t for you, but it’s another to bash readers who have enjoyed something that you don’t find stimulating enough.
Real authors can’t always be perfect, and some stories will have plot holes, or weird plot lines, or characters that don’t feel entirely coherent, and that’s okay! While it’s completely fine to dislike a book that doesn’t do it for you, humans will inevitably make a flawed creative project, and the beauty of it is that there’s always an audience for it.
Two things I want you to get out of reading this are:
Read more fanfiction. Support authors’ work in any way you can. Your reading habits can make a difference! You don't need bots to craft stories for you, because there are people whose job it is to tell those stories, and they deserve a chance and recognition! I understand the fangirl's constant need to consume more content, and I see why something like Character.AI appeals to certain people. But I promise there's something out there, written by a real, creative human, that will change your life. There's a reason why people want to use tools to make their lives easier when writing: crafting a book can be a tedious, demanding, tough process, and authors deserve their flowers for the hard work they put in.
The danger of knowing there's a technological tool that can help you perfect your writing and expand your audience is falling into the trap of trying to create something that pleases as many people as possible, which is the worst way to approach a creative project. Allow yourself to make mistakes, be authentic, be messy; I assure you there will still be people who enjoy your work. Not everything will perform well, and you'll learn from that and try something different. Nothing compares to the feeling of your art or writing being appreciated, knowing it comes genuinely from you!
I tried not to bore you to death with this—it’s a topic that deserves a lot of time and care, and I think I covered as much as possible. I could discuss this for hours, and I’m sure I’m missing a lot of key points, but feel free to let me know if there’s anything to add. I’m always happy to hear your thoughts and chat with you. Go pick your book or your pen! I’ll talk to you next week. x
I think, even with authentic voices, there will be an issue with public trust in newer published works. And there is also the morally grey area of having your work inspired by AI prompts rather than just copying and pasting essays generated by chatGPT. There is definitely nuance to this discussion and your article is a great start 🥲
wow, the author that left the ai prompt in the book? that’s insane!!