Japanese Author Admits to Using AI in Her Work After Winning Prestigious Award; What Are the Reactions?

In recent times, the emergence of Artificial Intelligence (AI) has been seen in different industries and it has changed how businesses work and how people now use technology. People are making their websites, products, videos, PR campaigns, content, management, and a whole lot of things with AI. 

The technology is not just limited to writing sharp and witty pieces of content but it is also being tested in the healthcare, finance, education, and entertainment sectors. But why is this technology trending? Because it gets things done in less time which saves a lot of time, effort, and money. Recently, a noted Japanese author accepted that she took the help of AI while writing her book.

Japanese author admits to embracing AI

After winning one of the most respected literary awards in Japan, author Rie Kudan revealed that she took a bit of help from the AI app ChatGPT. Her book, "The Tokyo Tower of Sympathy" won the Akutagawa award and she confessed that almost 5% of her book was a word-to-word copy of the AI content. Set in a futuristic Tokyo, AI is a recurring theme in the book, and the storyline revolves around a high-rise prison tower and its architect's intolerance of criminals, per Daily Sabah.

But what inspired the author to take help from the AI tool? She later shared that she came to know about ChatGPT and would often use the app to ask answers for to her daily problems. She got ideas from ChatGPT responses to frame the roles and lines of the book's characters.

Has AI spoilt or eased up the working space?

Besides being applauded for her literary work, Kudan has also received demeaning comments as some called her AI usage disrespectful. Writer and committee member Keiichiro Hirano shared his and the selection committee's opinions on social media platform X. He shared that for the committee, Kudan's use of AI was not at all a problem. In the face of criticisms, Hirano clarified that there might be a huge misunderstanding regarding Kudan's work being replicated from Generative AI but the terms have been mentioned in her work and the novel's theme is based on AI. He later agreed to the potential issues with future AI usage in different industries and segments but was sure that Kudan's work was unaffected and she won the award for her applaudable work.

But the point is that Kudan is not the only person to get help from AI apps in a society where almost everyone is thinking that AI apps can snatch their jobs. There are many examples of artists taking the help of AI tools, including photographer Boris Eldagsen from Berlin who left the Sony World Photography Awards after admitting that his winning photo that made it to the creative photo category was designed using AI.

More than 10,000 authors which include names like James Patterson, Roxane Gay, and Margaret Atwood, signed an open letter and petition which asked the AI leaders to at least get permission from authors before using their work to train big language models and also make fair payments for the same.