Artificial General Intelligence and Generative AI: Exploring the Rise of AI Novels

Recently, the Japanese literary world has been abuzz with discussions about AI-generated literature. This comes after the 170th Akutagawa Prize winner,Rie Qudan,revealed during the award ceremony that 5% of her winning work, an AI novel titled "The Tokyo Tower of Sympathy," was written by ChatGPT and that she used it without any modifications.

The news sparked a flurry of media coverage, with some outlets portraying Qudan as having "won an award by writing a novel with AI," or suggesting that "The Tokyo Tower of Sympathy" is a generative AI novel where it's impossible to distinguish between human and AI-generated content. There were also debates about copyright issues: If the content was written by AI, could it be considered plagiarism? Did Qudan cheat?

At this point, one might wonder if writing novels with AI is the work of artificial general intelligence (AGI). In the past, we've discussed the progress and classification of AGI. Could it be that we've reached the point where a Level 3 expert-level AGI has emerged?

Rie Qudan (Source: X)

What is "The Tokyo Tower of Sympathy" About?

Before we delve further, let's take a closer look at the novel itself.

"The Tokyo Tower of Sympathy" is a dystopian science fiction novel set in an alternate Tokyo where people are "accustomed" to the presence of generative AI, and society is influenced by AI language, leading to human interactions that are rational and devoid of emotion. The novel also features the "New National Stadium" designed by the renowned architect Zaha Hadid for the 2020 Tokyo Olympics, which, unlike in reality, was not scrapped but successfully completed, signaling to readers that this is a parallel universe.

The protagonist, Makina, is an architect tasked with building a tower prison named "The Tokyo Tower of Sympathy" in Shinjuku. However, she is skeptical about the tower's name, which is written in Katakana—a script used for transcribing foreign words—and is uneasy about referring to prisoners as "Homo miserabilis" (Latin for "miserable people"). She believes that both the tower's name and the term for prisoners are linguistic veils over the essence of things. Consequently, she poses her doubts to an AI character named "AI-built."

In the novel, the dialogue spoken by "AI-built" is the part written by ChatGPT. Therefore, it's more accurate to say that the author used AI responses to enhance the portrayal of the AI character, with AI's lines distinguished in bold within the text. This juxtaposition of natural and artificial intelligence language echoes the novel's theme: when language is replaced or altered, do our emotions change as well?

Cover of "The Tokyo Tower of Sympathy" (Source: X)

AI-Written Novels Winning Awards is Not New

In fact,Rie Qudan clarified in an interview with "Bungeishunjū" on January 19 that the notion of the novel being written by AI was a misconception, emphasizing that anyone who reads the text can clearly discern which parts are AI-generated. One of the Akutagawa Prize judges, novelist Keiichiro Hirano, also supported Kuridan on social media.

Using AI to assist in writing and winning awards is not unprecedented. In 2022, Japanese science fiction author Ashizawa Kamome used AI to write the novel "Are You There?" which won the The Hoshi Awards. Notably, this award has long been open to "non-human" submissions, including artificial intelligence or extraterrestrials, as long as they can appoint a reachable representative.

Other recent examples of generative AI in literature include a novel co-written by a human author and a chatbot on Chai AI, published by "The New York Times" in November last year, and a creative project in Taiwan called "Love Letters to Aillen," produced by human writers interacting with AI.

In the Age of AI, How Should We View Creativity?

The controversy surrounding "The Tokyo Tower of Sympathy" may stem from the Akutagawa Prize's prestige as Japan's leading literary award, which puts its winners in the spotlight. Qudan's case raises questions about how we should perceive and redefine creativity and language in the era of generative AI and artificial general intelligence.

Novelist Qizhang Dong, in his article "Literary Writing in the Age of AI," suggests that "AI language is a mirror of human language," and urges that "literature cannot remain aloof or self-contained in the age of AI."

Rie Qudan also mentioned that "The Tokyo Tower of Sympathy" is a contemplation on language, stating, "I believe that things that cannot be solved through language cannot be solved in other ways. My personal conviction is not to stop thinking through language, which became my motivation for writing this AI novel."

In the foreseeable future, we can expect more AI-related creations. Before AI takes the throne, we can only sharpen our sensitivity to language and ponder the boundaries of human imagination. As you read this, you might just have finished an article co-authored by AI.

In an interview, Rie Qudan mentioned being influenced by Yukio Mishima and enjoying fitness. Pictured is Qudan using VIVE Focus 3 for boxing, clearly embracing technology. (Source: X)