Lately I’ve been ripping through cheesy romance novels like it’s my job. They basically all follow the same arc: the corny meet-cute, the third-act break-up and of course the happily-ever-after. For me, the predictability is peak comfort. But like any genre that follows a formula, these books are low hanging fruit for generative AI.
Using AI in creative writing is (naturally) a hot debate, with implications that could reshape the book industry and our experience as readers. In this episode from 1A, guests debate whether AI is a crucial tool for the business of writing or creative theft that devalues the human soul of storytelling. We hear directly from a romance author named Coral Hart who uses AI in her writing and teaches others to do the same:
“I do think this is one of those changes in the industry that if you are not going to at least learn, you're not gonna make it out the other end of this unscathed.”
So, is it okay for an author to use AI tools to organize their writing? Should AI be used to write large chunks of dialogue or come up with story ideas? And who gets to decide? In March one of the largest U.S. publishers drew a line in the sand, cancelling one of its novels after allegations that the author used AI to write it.
Whether you love dime-romance novels or Tolstoy, there’s no question, the world of books is changing. For now, I have a list of books written the old-fashioned way (by humans) that’ll keep me busy for the next 100 years.
Happy listening (and reading) everybody!
📝Julia
The week’s best episodes
…to share with your book club
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🍿 I can't believe you've never seen that! It’s a classic! It’s okay, the hosts of Pop Culture Happy Hour have gaps in their movie-viewing history too. In this episode they go back and review some all-time classics, including Erin Brockovich and Enter the Dragon.
🌤️ How is the weather?! Research backs up the value of small talk
A lot of us dread making conversation, but it’s good for us! And more enjoyable than you might expect. As usual, Short Wave is breaking down the latest research for us, including a couple of other new and noteworthy papers.
➕ Do we measure what matters? I cannot stop thinking about this bonus episode from Planet Moneyabout how the world is increasingly gamified. There are rankings, metrics and incentives everywhere you look. But what these scoring systems consider "success," philosopher C. Thi Nguyen argues, is often shaped by what can be easily measured, not what we value. Get access to this episode (and sponsor-free listening) by signing up for NPR+.
One to Watch
In 1961 two hydrogen bombs accidentally fell out of a plane… in North Carolina. The Storycorps archive includes interviews with over 600K people, including multiple people who were there that day, and lived to tell the tale.
@StoryCorps/Instagram
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