Will the Japanese author who used artificial intelligence to write the award winning novel return?

Following her Akutagawa Prize triumph, Japanese author Rie Kudan revealed that artificial intelligence (AI) played an important role in the creation of her novel, “The Tokyo Tower of Sympathy.” CNN mentionted.

During a press conference, Kudan, who won the prestigious literary prize for promising young authors, revealed that about 5% of her acclaimed book was generated verbatim by ChatGPT, an AI language model.

However, the question now is whether he would return the award. Voicing her commitment to harnessing artificial intelligence for future creative endeavors, the 33-year-old author said: “I plan to continue to benefit from the use of artificial intelligence in writing my novels, while allowing my creativity to express itself to the fullest.”

“The Tokyo Tower of Sympathy” revolves around the challenges faced by an architect tasked with building a high-rise prison in Tokyo, incorporating artificial intelligence as a central theme. Committee members praised the novel as “practically flawless”.

Kudan shared her use of ChatGPT to solve problems, revealing that deviations from expected AI responses affected the emotional expressions of the main character in her work.

While Kudan is not the first artist to introduce artificial intelligence into the creative process, the incorporation of the technology has sparked controversy in the creative community. Various writers and artists, including George RR Martin, Jodi Picoult and John Grisham, have raised concerns about the use of artificial intelligence and have taken legal action against OpenAI, the entity behind ChatGPT.

Despite differing opinions on social media, award committee member Keiichiro Hirano clarified that the committee did not perceive Kudan’s use of artificial intelligence as problematic. Hirano emphasized that AI involvement was explicitly mentioned in the work and encouraged a nuanced understanding of AI’s role in creative endeavors.