Plot thickens as novelist infuses AI into creative process on award-winning book
AJapanese author won the country’s top literary prize – then admitted to using ChatGPT to write a portion of the book.
Rie Kudan, 33, was awarded the prestigious Akutagawa Prize last week for her sci-fi novel Tokyo-to Dojo-to (Tokyo Sympathy Tower), which focuses on a high-rise prison tower. The book includes themes about AI.
Judges reportedly called her novel “almost flawless”. However, during her acceptance speech, Kudan revealed a portion of the book had been written by ChatGPT.
“This is a novel written by making full use of a generative AI like ChatGPT, and probably about 5 per cent of the whole text is written directly from the generative AI,” Kudan said, according to The Japan Times.
“I would like to work well with them to express my creativity.”
She said that in her personal life, she consults with ChatGPT about problems she feels she cannot discuss with others.
“When the AI did not say what I expected, I sometimes reflected my feelings in the lines of the main character,” she said.
The Akutagawa Prize, Japan’s top accolade for literature, was launched in 1935 and is awarded twice a year to emerging writers.
Novelist and prize committee member Keiichiro Hirano took to X, formerly known as Twitter, and said the selection committee did not see Kudan’s use of AI as a problem.
“It seems that the story that Rie Kudan’s award-winning work was written using generative AI is misunderstood … If you read it, you will see that the generative AI was mentioned in the work,” he wrote. “There will be problems with that kind of usage in the future, but that is not the case with Tokyo Sympathy Tower.”
Some applauded her efforts on social media, while others were less sure. “So, this is how the Akutagawa laureate uses ChatGPT – not to slack off but to ‘unleash creativity,’’ said one X user. “So, she wrote the book by deftly using AI. Is that [talent] or not? I don’t know,” added another.
Kudan is not the first artist to spark controversy by using AI. Last year, photographer Boris Eldagsen withdrew from the Sony World Photography Awards after revealing his winning entry in the creative photo category was AI-generated.
Rie Kudan was awarded the Akutagawa Prize for sci-fi novel Tokyo Sympathy Tower, which includes themes about AI