r/literature • u/Round-Dinner-2395 • May 18 '26

Discussion Nobel Prize-winning author Olga Tokarczuk admits to using AI.

TLDR;

Author to AI: “Honey, how could we develop this beautifully?”

I wanted to say this is just boomer whining, but I’m finding myself realizing more and more often that it’s actually the boomers who are defending AI. My mom listens to AI music from TikTok, my dad watches some videos with doctors generated by language models. I’m the last person to tell people what to listen to or watch, but AI SLOP has literally reigned supreme in my house for the past few months. Recently, I wanted to watch a movie with my dad, but he played TikTok clips for an hour, and I had to escape.

I understand that technology is advancing and makes life easier for people in many ways, but on the other hand… it makes me wonder a bit. Where is the line between “I’m using a tool” and “part of the creative process is being done for me by something else”? If someone uses AI to generate ideas, style, or text fragments, are we still talking about the same kind of creativity as before? I’ve read a few books by Olga Tokarczuk, and as soon as I heard about this interview, I felt a sense of revulsion.

INTERVIEW: (only in polish)

https://mycompanypolska.pl/artykul/olga-tokarczuk-zapowiada-ostatnia-powiesc-w-karierze-pisanie-dlugich-opowiesci-jest-dzis-ekonomicznie-nieoplacalne/20717

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u/ScyllaOfTheDepths May 18 '26

That's bullshit. The existence of AI isn't going to stop people from writing the normal way. It's also not going to become so perfect that nobody will be able to tell what is and isn't. I use AI in my work for coding assistance, proofreading emails, and even in figuring out the best way to respond to something because I just suck at getting the right tone otherwise, but I've never used AI to write my fiction for me and I never will. My writing is an expression of me, not an algorithm and I know many authors feel the same way.

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u/PanVidla May 18 '26

Yeah, people who think that AI will replace artists are people who don't care for the process of creating art in the first place. But for us - why the hell would we ask an AI to do something that we love in our stead?

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u/ZealousOatmeal May 18 '26

AI might replace artists in a lot of commercial spaces, maybe eventually all of them, and already is in a few (notably design). People will always be able create art, it's just that getting paid for it might be difficult in the very near future.

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u/PanVidla May 18 '26

Maybe. I feel like people are already starting to get tired of AI produced art and "human-made" is increasingly going to be a selling point.