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

Are readers generating fiction with AI models?

arxiv.org

Post reply on HN
Print view View original

61–68 of 68 posts

Re: Are readers generating fiction with AI models?

#61

Post by yorwba »

lubujackson wrote: post #19

So fans have fan fiction because they love certain worlds and characters and want more of it, or to riff on the base to take stories in new directions. We have things like TV tropes so it is no small stretch to, say, generate sitcom-type stories from Harry Potter or GoT that can continue forever. But where does all of this lead? Music has sinilar issues, but I think of this like the compression/loudness issue in musi…

Humans may crave newness, but it only needs to be new to them and also still mostly recognizably familiar. So artists who spent too much time steeped in the output of prior artists ended up with Dadaist literature and abstract paintings, while the average person still enjoys conventional novels and paintings that look like something.

I'm not sure whether Harry Potter pioneered the "school + wizards" mashup, but the school has many aspects you would expect of a school (save for the wizards) and the wizards have many aspects familiar from previous fictional wizards (save for the school part.) The novelty comes from combining the concepts in more or less straightforward ways.

Even a writing AI that is only capable of taking an existing plot and adapting it for a different setting could produce enough reading material to last a lifetime by taking all existing novels in the public domain and putting each in a different random mashup for modern audiences. And I think many people wouldn't tire of this at all.

Re: Are readers generating fiction with AI models?

#62

Post by piloto_ciego »

zem wrote: post #54
jagged-chisel wrote: post #44

Earlier quoted context omitted.

But now you have a starting point to edit from. Just find a bit more motivation to continue writing...

my speculation is that not having written the original text means you don't have a mental history of all the decisions that went into writing it, and the context from being immersed in the work, making it a lot harder and less motivating to go write the next draft.

it was mostly just an experiment to see how well it could go. I didn't have a huge amount of motivation to keep going with it, I just wanted t osee if it could do it. Arguably you could flesh it out way more and have a legit work of fiction, but I only have so many hours in the day and was more interested in seeing if it could make something passable.

My take? It was passable. Over the last year I've read quite a bit less because I spend a lot of times looking at screens during the day and periodically get headaches, but I read something like 12-36 books a year depending on the year. Some of the fiction I read is good, others is... well, it's adequate.

From a purely "was it good enough to make money" standpoint, a book written exclusively with codex could probably sell copies. There are a lot of crappy authors out there too.

Re: Are readers generating fiction with AI models?

#63

Post by mirabilis »

rhdunn wrote: post #25
mirabilis wrote: post #18

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I think you lose that draw of interactivity when you’re essentially reading someone else’s RP, though.

You're not reading someone else's RP, though. Not with the applications that support this. There are things like the character(s) you interact with, the initial setting, and some background information predefined, but the responses/evolution of the RP vary depending on things like the model used and the user's interactions. It's somewhat like taking a D&D setting/scenario. Each group plays it differently.

Ah, the point I was trying to make was more akin to “why would I read your AI-generated story that you’ve posted as a static text/ebook trying to make a profit when I could do [essentially the scenario you described].”

Re: Are readers generating fiction with AI models?

#64

Post by mirabilis »

LoganDark wrote: post #45
mirabilis wrote: post #18

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I think you lose that draw of interactivity when you’re essentially reading someone else’s RP, though.

As someone with extensive experience with this: no, you don't. As much as it's nice to know another shares my interest (and will partake in it with me), I can't always get that. When I can't get that, LLMs are not a worthless substitute, especially if what I actually want is just to play out a situation. I want to act and then get back a description of reaction. LLMs can describe reaction, therefore I find value in t…

To clarify, I meant that the draw of AI-written content would be exactly that interactivity - why read a story someone else has generated and posted in a static way when I could go and tailor one to my exact tastes instead. “No one wants to read AI generated texts” being appended with “that they haven’t gone and cooked up themselves”

Re: Are readers generating fiction with AI models?

#65

Post by mock-possum »

bawolff wrote: post #29

> We show that users especially gravitate toward fanfiction and erotica Why am i not surprised its primarily porn

Erotic content lowers the quality bar overall - or, maybe more proper to say, people are willing to put up with much worse quality, as long as it features content that arouses them. Settings, characters/pairings, sexualities, activities, dynamics, anything you can think of that someone might be into - media that’s a 5/10 normally becomes a 6 or 7/10 when it features your very specific underserved kink. And if you can generate it yourself, privately, practically for free?

That’s why you’re not surprised.

Re: Are readers generating fiction with AI models?

#67

Post by LoganDark »

mirabilis wrote: post #64
LoganDark wrote: post #45

Earlier quoted context omitted.

As someone with extensive experience with this: no, you don't. As much as it's nice to know another shares my interest (and will partake in it with me), I can't always get that. When I can't get that, LLMs are not a worthless substitute, especially if what I actually want is just to play out a situation. I want to act and then get back a description of reaction. LLMs can describe reaction, therefore I find value in t…

To clarify, I meant that the draw of AI-written content would be exactly that interactivity - why read a story someone else has generated and posted in a static way when I could go and tailor one to my exact tastes instead. “No one wants to read AI generated texts” being appended with “that they haven’t gone and cooked up themselves”

I would wager that's not universally true either. Certainly, I've read stories that were AI-assisted and appreciated them, because not only are they content on their own, they give me ideas too. Inspiration, if you will. And then, yes, I can go right on to generate my own, too.

Like, "why not both?"

Also finding AI-generated content to similar tastes is a great way to potentially finding buddies. I've made a lot of friends from certain ventures

Re: Are readers generating fiction with AI models?

#68

Post by lubujackson »

fluoridation wrote: post #21
lubujackson wrote: post #19

So fans have fan fiction because they love certain worlds and characters and want more of it, or to riff on the base to take stories in new directions. We have things like TV tropes so it is no small stretch to, say, generate sitcom-type stories from Harry Potter or GoT that can continue forever. But where does all of this lead? Music has sinilar issues, but I think of this like the compression/loudness issue in musi…

I don't get your point. Do people not get bored and move on to something else one way or the other? What exactly is different?

The point is, what people are interested in is more social than inherent in the thing itself. Art is communicative and socially-bound.
Post reply on HN