AI and generative AI are beginning to infiltrate the world of art. For example, some argue that while music created by music-generating AI isn’t bad, it lacks the quality to make one want to listen to it repeatedly. A friend of mine, a strong opinion on the subject, also says that machines are not yet able to capture the kind of sound quality that makes people want to listen to it repeatedly. The reason, he says, is that machines cannot pick out the best parts that humans can create from a large amount of data. This means that even if they do pick from a large amount of data, the quality will tend to be average. Generative AI excels in low-cost tasks such as creating standardized documents or animations. My friend declared that it’s still too early to create the best music or animation that people would “definitely want to listen to” or “definitely want to watch.” However, a seismic shift is occurring that is shaking this friend’s belief.
One aspect of this shift is beginning to be seen in science fiction novels. If we consider novels to be synonymous with literature, then literature is defined as “an artistic work that expresses the external and internal world of humans through language” (Kojien 6th edition). AI is infiltrating the world of literature, captivating the hearts of many. Last month, the winners of the Nikkei Shinichi Hoshi Award were announced, marking its 13th year. This year, there were 1923 entries in the general category, 474 of which utilized AI. Furthermore, these works passed the first three rounds of judging, and half of the 10 finalists were “co-written with AI.” One judge couldn’t tell whether a work was AI-generated or not after reading it. In retrospect, the works judged as interestingly structured or those that aligned with Shinichi Hoshi’s style were actually those that utilized AI. Ironically, works that were difficult to understand, lacking something, or that made one wonder if they were even science fiction were the ones that didn’t use AI.
Among the judges involved in science fiction, some seem ahead of their time. One judge, while surprised by the advancements in AI, is positive about its application in literature. Writers often have numerous ideas and motifs for their creations, but struggle to keep up. The smart use of AI is to use it as a tool to help people who can’t keep up with the workload. The industrial sector has already adopted this pattern. Generative AI is a labor-complementary technology. There is a growing argument that by skillfully using generative AI, existing work can be made more productive, more comfortable, and of higher quality. When the work is complex enough, it is humans who will bring in generative AI to increase efficiency. It seems that there will be more writers and artists who skillfully use generative AI in the future.
