Hacker News Board Hacker News, browsed like a classic message board
Live data from Hacker News

Nobel laureate Olga Tokarczuk used AI while writing her latest novel

lithub.com

Post reply on HN
Print view View original

61–70 of 93 posts

Re: Nobel laureate Olga Tokarczuk used AI while writing her latest novel

#61

Post by szmarczak »

KPGv2 wrote: post #57
tptacek wrote: post #9

I don't even know what this story is trying to be about. She won the Nobel (and the Man Booker) many years before the public availability of LLMs. It sounds like she's saying she used LLMs the same way people used Google, before LLMs supplanted it. So what? "Flights" is a good read.

It's clickbait. She gave an interview where she said she used AI to help get her brain going, and the headline made it sound like she had AI write the book. She used AI the way I as a writer use my friends online: to say things, see what they say back, and get it to make my brain create new connections. As a writer, I think a lot about the ethics of using AI in the creation of art. As of right now, here's some opinio…

> It's clickbait. She gave an interview where she said she used AI to help get her brain going, and the headline made it sound like she had AI write the book.

It's not clickbait.

> Często wprost rzucam maszynie pomysł do analizy z prośbą: kochana, jak mogłybyśmy to pięknie rozwinąć?

> I often directly throw an idea at it for an analysis asking: darling, how could we expand this beautifully?

Source: https://lubimyczytac.pl/aktualnosci/23065/olga-tokarczuk-o-a...

It's exactly like using AI for song creation where you direct it where it's going. It's no different than asking AI to generate an image and you redrawing it so it doesn't have AI traces.

Re: Nobel laureate Olga Tokarczuk used AI while writing her latest novel

#62

Post by ryanmcbride »

john_strinlai wrote: post #36
tptacek wrote: post #26

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Wait, so I'm clear, the idea here is that Olga Tokarczuk uses AI because she's boomer that believes art is a dead end and a waste of time?

not that i agree with the above posters, but they are talking "boomers" generally. someone like Olga Tokarczuk would presumably be an exception to the general statement, considering her career makes it clear that she doesn't subscribe to the "art is a dead end and there is no money in it" philosophy ryanmcbride is describing

Yeah it's pretty obvious I'm generalizing the entire generation not talking about her specifically.

Re: Nobel laureate Olga Tokarczuk used AI while writing her latest novel

#63

Post by szmarczak »

bawolff wrote: post #42

Honestly, instead of just blanket judging based on if AI is involved, lets just judge the work in question. If you can prompt your way to a nobel-class novel, that is almost even mors impressive than writing it yourself.

> If you can prompt your way to a nobel-class novel, that is almost even mors impressive

I wouldn't call outsourcing your creativity "impressive".

Re: Nobel laureate Olga Tokarczuk used AI while writing her latest novel

#64

Post by bawolff »

szmarczak wrote: post #63
bawolff wrote: post #42

Honestly, instead of just blanket judging based on if AI is involved, lets just judge the work in question. If you can prompt your way to a nobel-class novel, that is almost even mors impressive than writing it yourself.

> If you can prompt your way to a nobel-class novel, that is almost even mors impressive I wouldn't call outsourcing your creativity "impressive".

Lots of people have written good books, nobody has managed to make AI do anything near that level. Being the first to do something is always impressive.

Re: Nobel laureate Olga Tokarczuk used AI while writing her latest novel

#65

Post by tptacek »

szmarczak wrote: post #61
KPGv2 wrote: post #57

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It's clickbait. She gave an interview where she said she used AI to help get her brain going, and the headline made it sound like she had AI write the book. She used AI the way I as a writer use my friends online: to say things, see what they say back, and get it to make my brain create new connections. As a writer, I think a lot about the ethics of using AI in the creation of art. As of right now, here's some opinio…

> It's clickbait. She gave an interview where she said she used AI to help get her brain going, and the headline made it sound like she had AI write the book. It's not clickbait. > Często wprost rzucam maszynie pomysł do analizy z prośbą: kochana, jak mogłybyśmy to pięknie rozwinąć? > I often directly throw an idea at it for an analysis asking: darling, how could we expand this beautifully? Source: https://lubimyczyt…

That's... wildly different from asking an AI to generate an image and then tracing it.

Re: Nobel laureate Olga Tokarczuk used AI while writing her latest novel

#66

Post by bensyverson »

armada651 wrote: post #29
bensyverson wrote: post #25

Earlier quoted context omitted.

If you use a power saw to cut the boards to build your house, did you really build your own house?

If the power saw also drew up the blueprints of the house and chose its design elements, then I'd say the power saw built the house. The difference that makes AI more than just a tool is that it comes up with creative ideas, or at least plagiarizes them very well.

At the risk of stating the obvious, you don't have to let AI come up with your ideas. You can just use it to execute them.

Re: Nobel laureate Olga Tokarczuk used AI while writing her latest novel

#67

Post by szmarczak »

bawolff wrote: post #64
szmarczak wrote: post #63

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> If you can prompt your way to a nobel-class novel, that is almost even mors impressive I wouldn't call outsourcing your creativity "impressive".

Lots of people have written good books, nobody has managed to make AI do anything near that level. Being the first to do something is always impressive.

> Being the first to do something is always impressive.

The companies are making the AI creative (whatever the definition), not her. Don't give her credit for something she had no impact on.

She's using AI for world building and working on top of it. Ask a few people whose job is world building (e.g. games) and no one will tell you that using AI is to be proud of.

Re: Nobel laureate Olga Tokarczuk used AI while writing her latest novel

#69

Post by szmarczak »

tptacek wrote: post #65
szmarczak wrote: post #61

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> It's clickbait. She gave an interview where she said she used AI to help get her brain going, and the headline made it sound like she had AI write the book. It's not clickbait. > Często wprost rzucam maszynie pomysł do analizy z prośbą: kochana, jak mogłybyśmy to pięknie rozwinąć? > I often directly throw an idea at it for an analysis asking: darling, how could we expand this beautifully? Source: https://lubimyczyt…

That's... wildly different from asking an AI to generate an image and then tracing it.

How is paraphrasing AI text different from paraphrasing AI images? It's still paraphrasing (with different mediums).

Re: Nobel laureate Olga Tokarczuk used AI while writing her latest novel

#70

Post by armada651 »

bensyverson wrote: post #66
armada651 wrote: post #29

Earlier quoted context omitted.

If the power saw also drew up the blueprints of the house and chose its design elements, then I'd say the power saw built the house. The difference that makes AI more than just a tool is that it comes up with creative ideas, or at least plagiarizes them very well.

At the risk of stating the obvious, you don't have to let AI come up with your ideas. You can just use it to execute them.

If the AI comes up with better ideas, then why would you put yourself at a disadvantage? Especially if people consider it just another tool even if it did all the creative thinking.
Post reply on HN